Author Yang Shuang-zi and translator Lin King have won the 2026 International Booker Prize for the novel "Taiwan Travelogue."
The award ceremony took place at the Tate Modern on Tuesday night.
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This marks the first time a book originally written in Mandarin Chinese has secured the honor.
The historical novel is set in 1930s Japanese-occupied Taiwan and revolves around a government-sponsored culinary trip.
Prize and Acceptance
The £50,000 prize is split equally between the author and the translator. In her acceptance speech, Yang addressed the political themes in her work.
"Some people believe that art and literature must be kept far from politics," Yang said.
"But I believe that literature cannot be separated from the soil in which it has grown."
Yang expanded on national identity struggles, connecting the historical setting to modern Taiwanese anxieties under geopolitical pressures from Beijing.
"Taiwanese people are suffering from an identity crisis," Yang said. "Some of us believe ourselves to be Chinese and then others believe that we are Taiwanese."
She expressed her personal stance against returning to a state of subjugation. "Do we want to go back to being colonised?
Do we want to have to live like that again? Be second-class citizens in our own land?
I refuse," Yang said.
Literary and Social Themes
The novel explores power dynamics through a romantic relationship between a Japanese novelist and a Taiwanese interpreter. Yang noted that love cannot overcome social stratification.
"It's a story about love, but it is also a story about how love cannot overcome power dynamics," Yang said.
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She linked the narrative to Taiwan's progressive stance on LGBTQ+ rights, as Taiwan became the first Asian territory to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019.
Yang views the novel as part of the queer literature heritage that emerged in Taiwan during the 1990s.
"What I specifically wanted to write about is relationships between women in every form. Love between women," she said.
"I believe we are the most progressive state in the whole of east Asia," Yang added, referring to women's and LGBTQ+ rights.
The novel previously won the National Book Award for translated literature in the United States in 2024.
Translator Lin King, a 33-year-old Taiwanese-American, expanded the footnotes and narrative voices for the English edition.
"I appreciate that it's a really hard book to read," King said.
King committed to translating only Taiwanese literature following Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
"My goal is to bring so many voices from Taiwan into English that no one can reduce Taiwan's literature to a monolith," King said.
Independent publisher And Other Stories released the book in the UK after other publishers refused to place the translator's name on the front cover.
King noted that international literary prizes expose readers to historical realities and oppressed dialects. "There is just so much to learn," King said.
The translation has renewed engagement with history among younger Taiwanese readers and the global diaspora.
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"A lot of people have told me that it was their first time seeing Taiwan featured in such a way in an English-language book," King said.
