Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-Zi’s acclaimed novel, Taiwan Travelogue, translated into English by Lin King, made history in 2024 as the first Taiwanese work to win the prestigious National Book Award for Translated Literature. This February, with support from the Ministry of Culture, the Taipei Cultural Center in New York and the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles will host a U.S. book tour featuring Yang Shuang-Zi and Lin King, offering audiences an exclusive chance to connect with the creators behind this internationally celebrated work.
The tour, organized in collaboration with Graywolf Press, an independent publisher, will include eight events across New York City and the Greater Los Angeles area. Through these talks, audiences will explore the creative journey of Taiwan Travelogue, from its historical inspirations to the challenges of bringing it to life in English.
Taiwan Travelogue tells the story of two women, one Japanese(Miss Chizuko) and one Taiwanese(Miss Chizuru), who grew up with different cultural backgrounds during the Japanese colonial period in 1938. Through a coincidental opportunity, they embark on a gourmet journey along the railway, exchanging culture and ideas. Throughout the work, the author uses food and drink as metaphors, allowing readers to glimpse the contradictions between mainland Japanese people and Taiwanese locals, as well as the differences in fate between men and women at that time.
The talk “Exploring Taiwan with Miss Chizuru: The Fictional Craft of Taiwan Travelogue,” will examine how the novel uses a “Shōwa Taiwan Railway Gourmet Tour” as a storytelling framework. Audiences will follow the journey of the novel’s creation, including the early inspirations, conceptual development, extensive research, fieldwork, archives-building, story conception, and writing process. The talk will also highlight how a Taiwanese novel can incorporate historical materials from Taiwan’s decades under Japanese colonial rule and how the travelogue of two women transforms into a work of fiction.
Lastly, Yang Shuang-Zi and Lin King will share their experiences collaborating on the English translation, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the historical research, on-site exploration, and challenges of translating cultural and emotional nuances for an international audience. This book tour presents a unique opportunity to delve into the richness of Taiwanese literature and uncover the stories behind this work.
Author Talk --Exploring Taiwan with Miss Chizuru: The Fictional Craft of Taiwan Travelogue
【New York City Events】
Yu & Me Books (with Lisa Hsiao Chen)
February 12, 7:00 PM
https://www.yuandmebooks.com/products/event-book-talk-taiwan-travelogue
CUNY Hunter College
February 14, 11:30 AM
https://hunter.cuny.edu/event/talk-exploring-taiwan-with-miss-chizuru/
New York Public Library - Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library(with Jeremy Tiang )
February 14, 2:00 PM
https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2025/02/04/exploring-taiwan-miss-chizuku-fictional-craft-taiwan-travelogue
【Greater Los Angeles Events】
Chapman University
February 18, 12:00 PM
https://events.chapman.edu/93141
University of California, Irvine
February 18, 4:30 PM
https://reurl.cc/5Dzqev
University of California, Los Angeles
February 19, 9:30 AM
https://reurl.cc/04ROLK
Skylight Books (with Charles Yu)
February 19, 7:00 PM
https://www.skylightbooks.com/event/skylight-y%C3%A1ng-shu%C4%81ng-z%C7%90-lin-king-present-taiwan-travelogue-w-charles-yu
University of California, Santa Barbara
February 20, 3:30 PM
https://www.eastasian.ucsb.edu/exploring-taiwan-with-miss-chizuru-the-fictional-craft-of-taiwan-travelogue/
The Author: Yáng Shuang-zi
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, whose real name is Yang Jo-Tzu, is a versatile writer from Taichung, Taiwan. She dabbles in various forms, including fiction, essays, manga scripts, and literary criticism.
In 2020, she was named one of the Rising Stars of the Twenty-First Century by Wenshun magazine and was selected by Unitas magazine as one of the Twenty Most Promising Young Novelists. In 2021, she became the youngest-ever nominee for the United Daily News Literary Award, and in 2022, Wenshun magazine again recognized Yáng as a Representative Author of Twenty-First Century Taiwanese Popular Literature.
Her notable works include the novel The Season When Flowers Bloom (花開時節) in 2017, Taiwan Travelogue (臺灣漫遊錄) in 2020, No. 1, Siwei Street (四維街一號) in 2023, and the essay Neighbors with Chang Jih-Hsing(我家住在張日興隔壁) in 2020. Taiwan Travelogue received Taiwan’s highest literary honor—the Golden Tripod Award in 2021. In 2024, its Japanese translation won Japan’s Best Translation Award, while the English version earned the 75th Annual National Book Award for Translated Literature in the United States.
The Translator: Lin King
Lin King is a writer and translator based in Taipei and New York. Her fiction has appeared in One Story, Boston Review, and Joyland among others and has received the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers.
She is the translator of The Boy from Clearwater by Yu Pei-Yun and Zhou Jian-Xin, as well as Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, winner of the 2024 National Book Award in Translated Literature.
Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles https://la.us.taiwan.culture.tw/Default.aspx