Yáng Shuāng-zǐ accepts International Booker

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ accepted the 2026 International Booker Prize at Tate Modern in London on May 19 alongside translator Lin King after their novel “Taiwan Travelogue” was named this year’s winner. The Booker Prize Foundation said the book was the first work translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the prize and that Yáng and Lin were the first Taiwanese and Taiwanese-American winners. The novel, published in English by And Other Stories, is set in 1930s Japanese-ruled Taiwan and follows two women on a culinary journey shaped by language, empire and power. ### When exactly did Yáng accept the prize? The Booker Prize Foundation said the award was announced on May 19, 2026, at a ceremony in the Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern. Several follow-up reports published on May 20 and May 21 described Yáng and Lin receiving the award that night in London. The date matters because some later coverage referred to the ceremony as “Tuesday night” without restating the calendar date. (thebookerprizes.com) The official Booker release fixes the announcement at May 19, 2026, at 22:14 BST. ### What did Yáng say in her acceptance remarks? Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture and Taiwan’s Central News Agency said Yáng used her acceptance speech to link the novel to Taiwan’s political and literary history. (thebookerprizes.com) She said literature could not be separated from the land where it grew or disentangled from politics, according to the ministry’s English-language account. The ministry also quoted her as saying Taiwan’s literature had spent a century asking about freedom and equality. Focus Taiwan reported that Yáng said her book belonged to a longer Taiwanese literary tradition asking what kind of future and nation Taiwanese people want. That framing matched later reporting in Taipei Times, which said Yáng hoped the novel could help bring Taiwan to the world and the world to Taiwan. ### Why has “Taiwan Travelogue” drawn so much attention? “Taiwan Travelogue” became the first Mandarin Chinese winner in the history of the International Booker Prize, according to the Booker Prize Foundation. (moc.gov.tw) The judges, chaired by Natasha Brown, called it “a captivating, slyly sophisticated” work that functions as both a romance and a postcolonial novel. (focustaiwan.tw) The Booker Prize website said the novel takes the form of a fictional translation of a rediscovered Japanese travel memoir. Its English edition presents a 1938 journey through Taiwan under Japanese rule, using food, translation and intimacy to examine hierarchy and colonial power. ### Who is Lin King, and what role did the translation play? Lin King shared the prize with Yáng under the International Booker rules, which divide the award equally between author and translator. (thebookerprizes.com) The Booker Prize Foundation said Lin and Yáng were the first Taiwanese and Taiwanese-American winners of the prize. Taipei Times noted that Lin’s translation had already won the 2024 U.S. (thebookerprizes.com) National Book Award for Translated Literature, also described there as a first for Taiwanese literature. That earlier recognition helped raise the book’s profile before the Booker win. ### Where can readers follow what comes next? The Booker Prize website has the winner’s book page, prize-year page and author and translator profiles, while And Other Stories has published its own post-win update. (thebookerprizes.com) Taiwanese outlets including Taipei Times and Focus Taiwan have also carried interviews and follow-up reporting published on May 20, May 21 and May 22. (thebookerprizes.com) (taipeitimes.com)