Yang Shuang-zi’s (楊雙子) 2024 novel “Taiwan Travelogue,” translated to English by Lin King (金翎), has won the Asia Society China Books Review’s inaugural Baifang Schell Book Prize for translated literature.
The original Mandarin version of “Taiwan Travelogue” was published in 2020 and won Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Tripod Award for Publications in 2021. King’s English translation of the book also made it the first Taiwanese work to be recognized with the U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2024.
The Baifang Schell Book Prize was established last year in honor of the late wife of American sinologist Orville Schell, who serves as Director of the Center on U.S.-China Relations at Asia Society. Prize winners receive US$10,000. “Taiwan Travelogue” was selected by an independent jury comprising five noted writers and scholars, who praised the book’s multi-layered narrative and the way it explores Taiwan’s food, customs, and history within the context of the two protagonists’ relationship.