Taiwan work makes National Book Award for Translated Literature longlist

Taipei, Sept. 16 (CNA) The English translation of Taiwanese writer Ping Lu's (平路) "To the East of the East" (東方之東) has been longlisted for the U.S.-based 2026 National Book Award for Translated Literature, marking the second such recognition for a Taiwanese writer after Yang Shuang-zi (楊双子).

Translated from Chinese by Jeremy Tiang (程異), the novel follows a Taiwanese writer's trip to Beijing in search of her missing husband and the encounters she has there, according to the National Book Foundation, an American nonprofit, which announced the longlist Tuesday.

The work was one of 10 titles, originally published in Arabic, Chinese, French, Indonesian, Norwegian, Russian and Spanish, selected from 159 books. Nine of the longlisted works are novels, while the other is nonfiction, the foundation said.

The foundation said it will announce the finalists on Oct. 6, with the winner revealed live at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony on Nov. 18.

"To the East of the East" is the first book in the novelist's "Taiwan Trilogy." Originally published in 2011, the novel was followed by "Ilha Formosa" (婆娑之島) and "Passing" (夢魂之地). The trilogy was republished in 2024.

In an interview with reporters, Ping Lu, whose real name is Lu Ping (路平), attributed the recognition to Tiang's translation, saying he writes well in English and that "my contribution may only be about 10 percent."

Ping Lu said that when the book was published in 2011, she had recently returned to Taiwan after working in Hong Kong as director of the Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center, Taiwan's cultural office in Hong Kong under the Ministry of Culture.

The novel reflected her circumstances at the time, exploring how a person examines their inner emotions from an outside perspective.

"Sometimes if you go far enough, you can hear the call from within your heart," she said.

To some extent, the novel is also about the relationship between an island and the mainland, as well as betrayal and separation that lead to the realization that one's ideal life is often linked to the pursuit of freedom, Ping Lu said.

Ping Lu has previously won several of Taiwan's national book awards as well as the National Award for the Arts. Her works have been translated into multiple languages, including English, French, Japanese, Korean and Czech, according to the National Book Foundation.

Tiang, originally from Singapore, has also translated works by Taiwanese writers including Su Wei-chen (蘇偉貞), Lo Yi-chin (駱以軍) and Chi Ta-wei (紀大偉).