The story of forbidden love and Taiwanese food, "Taiwan Travelogue," has won the International Booker Prize, becoming the first novel translated from Chinese (Mandarin) to receive the prestigious award, UNN reports, citing the BBC.
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"Taiwan Travelogue," written by Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi and Taiwanese-American translator Lin King, tells the story of two women during their culinary journey through Taiwan in the 1930s, when the island was under Japanese rule.
Masterfully presented as a translation of newly discovered travel memoirs with fictional footnotes, many readers believed it was a genuine historical text when the book was first published in 2020.
"It is an enthralling, subtly sophisticated novel," said Natasha Brown, chair of the judges.
"Taiwan Travelogue" follows the fictional Japanese writer Aoyama Chizuko, who is on a government-sponsored tour of Taiwan with a Taiwanese translator, Wang Chih-tsuru, with whom she falls in love.
Through their lens, the novel explores themes of love, culture, colonial history, and power.
"Exploring the novel's central themes—travel and food—changed my life in two obvious ways," said Yang, the Booker Prize recipient, before her win was announced. "My savings decreased, and my weight increased."
"Taiwan Travelogue" has already received several awards.
The prize of £50,000 will be split between the author and the translator.
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