“Taiwan Travelogue” wins 2026 International Booker Prize

Taiwanese author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ has won the 2026 International Booker Prize, worth £50,000 (A$94,300) for Taiwan Travelogue (translated by Lin King, Scribe), reported the Bookseller.

The International Booker Prize is awarded to a book translated into English and published in the UK and/or Ireland. The prize money is shared equally between the winning writer and translator.

“Presented as the translation of a rediscovered (fictional) travel memoir, Taiwan Travelogue follows a Japanese novelist with a ‘monstrous appetite’ on a culinary tour through Japanese-occupied Taiwan, accompanied by a local interpreter who shares her passion for food,” said the Bookseller. “The original Mandarin Chinese publication was first published in 2020, causing a stir with some readers who thought it was a real translation of a 1930s Japanese text.”

Taiwan Travelogue is the first book translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the award. It was chosen as the winner from a shortlist announced earlier this year. Scribe Publications announced it had acquired ANZ rights to the novel earlier this year, and published a local edition this month.

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