Yáng Shuāng‑zǐ uses Tate Modern acceptance speech to address political questions

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ used her acceptance speech for the 2026 International Booker Prize to address the political questions at the center of her novel, after *Taiwan Travelogue* won at London’s Tate Modern on Tuesday, May 19. The book, translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King, was announced as the winner by judging chair Natasha Brown in the Turbine Hall. The Booker Prize Foundation said the novel was the first book translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the award, and that Yáng and King were the first Taiwanese and Taiwanese American winners. (thebookerprizes.com) (andotherstories.org) The novel is set in 1930s Japanese-ruled Taiwan and follows two women on a culinary tour, using that setting to explore power, language and love. In remarks reported after the ceremony, Yáng said the book belonged to a longer Taiwanese literary tradition of asking what kind of future and nation Taiwan’s people want. ### What did Yáng say from the stage? Yáng said in her speech that literature could not be separated from the place that produced it, according to post-ceremony reporting on Wednesday. She also framed the novel’s colonial setting in present-tense political terms, asking whether Taiwanese people wanted to “go back to being colonised” and saying she refused to be “a second-class citizen” in her own land. (thebookerprizes.com) Focus Taiwan, citing her speech in London, reported that Yáng said Taiwanese writers had been asking the same questions for a century: what kind of future Taiwan’s people want and what kind of nation they want. (thebookerprizes.com) She said *Taiwan Travelogue* joined that line of texts. ### Why did the speech land as more than a standard prize thank-you? The Booker Prize Foundation described *Taiwan Travelogue* as a novel that explores history, power and love through 1930s Japan-controlled Taiwan. Natasha Brown said the book worked both as a romance and as a postcolonial novel, placing those political questions at the center of the judges’ reading as well. (beehive.news) The Guardian’s interview with Yáng and King, as reflected in search results available Friday, said Yáng used the acceptance speech specifically to address those questions directly rather than leave them implicit in the fiction. (focustaiwan.tw) That made the ceremony itself part of the public conversation around the book. ### What is *Taiwan Travelogue* and why is the win notable? The Booker Prize Foundation said the novel takes the form of a fictional translation of a rediscovered Japanese travel memoir. Its English edition was translated by Lin King and published by And Other Stories. (thebookerprizes.com) The prize is shared between author and translator, and this year’s winner carried the usual £50,000 award, split evenly, according to Booker materials and contemporaneous coverage. The foundation also said the book was the first Mandarin Chinese translation to win the International Booker. (beehive.news) ### Who else was central to this win? Lin King accepted the prize alongside Yáng at Tate Modern and has been part of the book’s public framing from the shortlist through the win. The Booker Prize Foundation’s author page for King says *Taiwan Travelogue* had already won the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature before its International Booker victory. (thebookerprizes.com) And Other Stories said on May 20 that the award gave the independent publisher a second straight International Booker after its 2025 win for *Heart Lamp*. The press statement called the result back-to-back victories for the press. (thebookerprizes.com) ### What happens next for the book? The Booker Prize Foundation has posted a reading guide, author pages for Yáng and King, and the winner’s page for *Taiwan Travelogue* on its website. And Other Stories is also continuing public events tied to the novel, including conversations in London featuring Yáng and Lin King. (thebookerprizes.com) (andotherstories.org) (thebookerprizes.com)