'Our stories matter': Book prize winner calls for faith in Taiwan literature

New York, June 18 (CNA) At a ceremony for the inaugural Baifang Schell Book Prize, translator Lin King (金翎) called on writers and readers to recognize the value of Taiwan's narratives.

After receiving the Award for Outstanding Translated Literature from Chinese Language, King said "Don't think Taiwan is too small, or that no one wants to read our stories...That's a dangerous mindset. Our stories have weight."

King accepted the US$10,000 award on behalf of herself and author Yang Shuang-zi (楊双子) for Taiwan Travelogue (臺灣漫遊錄), the English translation of Yang's novel about friendship, desire, and life during Japan's colonial rule of Taiwan, told through the relationship between a Taiwanese and a Japanese woman.

The jury praised the book as "a masterful novel that combines a sly literary conceit with the lush pleasures of food writing, upended by a deepening experience of colonialism and its effects on friendship and love."

Yang was also applauded for her "narrative gifts" that "reveal layer after layer behind what appears to be a mere travelogue," while King was complimented for her "artful translation" that "allows tension to swell beneath the surface."

Taiwan Travelogue has received other international acclaim, winning the U.S. National Book Award for Translated Literature and the Best Translation Award in Japan last year.

King, fluent in Mandarin, Japanese and English, said she plans to continue writing and hopes to publish her debut English-language work next year.

The Baifang Schell Book Prize, launched by the Asia Society's Center on U.S.-China Relations, recognizes outstanding literary translations from the Chinese-speaking world.