"The Taiwan Travelogue" Wins Booker Prize, Highlighting Ministry of Culture's Success in Strengthening Literary Ecosystem

(CNA, reporter Chao Ching-yu, Taipei, 21st) "The Taiwan Travelogue," created by Yang Shuang-zi and translated into English by Elenor Gil-holt, has won the 2026 UK International Booker Prize. This success also highlights the results of the Ministry of Culture's recent efforts to upgrade and strengthen Taiwan's literary ecosystem, encompassing creation, publishing, promotion, rights marketing, and foreign translation. According to a press release from the Ministry of Culture today, Yang Shuang-zi received the "Youth Creative Writing Grant" in 2018 during the creation phase of "The Taiwan Travelogue." After its publication by Spring山 Publisher in 2020, it won the Golden Tripod Awards for literary books in 2021. Subsequently, under the "Translation and Publication Grant Program," American and British English editions were published. The Ministry of Culture also invited Yang Shuang-zi to be the first writer-in-residence at the Taiwan Literature Base and arranged for her to tour the world for lectures and promotions through various overseas cultural centers. Minister of Culture Li Yuan, himself a writer, has successively promoted initiatives such as removing the age limit for the "Creative Writing Grant," the "Next Book" award, the "Wandering Project" to encourage overseas residencies, the inaugural "Taiwan Author Festival" with a focus on translation, increased compensation for translators under the Public Lending Right, active participation in domestic and international book fairs and author festivals, and increasing foreign translation editions to expand rights sales possibilities. The Ministry stated that the English translation of "The Taiwan Travelogue" will be released in the US in November 2024 and has won the National Book Award for Translated Literature, the highest honor in American literature. The UK English edition, to be published in March 2026, further won the International Booker Prize, often called a "super predictor" for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Currently, rights have been sold in 24 countries, with more inquiries coming in after the award announcement. The Ministry of Culture stated that the international success of "The Taiwan Travelogue" shows that the collaboration between excellent literary creation, exquisite translation, and the full support of a publisher is the key to ensuring the original work can be genuinely appreciated by readers worldwide. The Ministry will, in accordance with relevant reward guidelines, hold a public ceremony to present prize money to author Yang Shuang-zi, translator Elenor Gil-holt, and Spring山 Publisher. Premier Cho Jung-tai also instructed at the Executive Yuan meeting today that the Ministry of Culture should evaluate raising the prize money for international competition winners to substantially encourage creators, translators, and publishers. He also called for a review of Taiwan's literary policy and promotion to continue strengthening the mechanisms for rewarding, cultivating, and promoting Taiwanese literary publishing. (Editor: Lung Po-an) 1150521