‘Taiwan Travelogue’ wins International Booker Prize in historic first for Chinese fiction

Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi and translator Lin King won the International Booker Prize on May 19, 2026, for Taiwan Travelogue. It is the first time that a book translated from Chinese won the prestigious literary award. Set in the 1930s, when Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule, the novel follows a fictional Japanese writer’s gastronomic adventures and her intimate relationship with a local interpreter.