Cornelius Dieckmann

A Taiwanese-American translator just won the International Booker Prize in London and used the stage to say what millions are afraid to say out loud. Here are her words. "In 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine, I made the explicit decision that rather than translating Sinophone works indiscriminately, I would only translate writing from Taiwan for the foreseeable future. I will continue to do so, I told myself, until the day comes that my homeland's sovereignty is no longer a provocation or a punchline, until no English speaker feels comfortable saying to me, glibly, 'I really should come visit you in Taiwan while it still exists.'" "The English Taiwan Travelogue demands much attention and work from the reader, precisely because it refuses to simplify Taiwan's multilingual, multicultural, and multi-ethnic reality." "No book should bear the burden of speaking on behalf of a whole country, and my goal for myself and my fellow translators is to bring so many voices from Taiwan into English that no one can reduce Taiwan's literature to a monolith. Because we are not a chorus, but a cacophony — self-contradicting and unruly, just like any healthy, robust democracy." Lin King, translator of Yang Shuang-zi's Taiwan Travelogue, said this on May 19, 2026, at London's Tate Modern. It is the first Taiwanese work to win the International Booker Prize. It previously won the US National Book Award for Translated Literature. The CCP has spent decades trying to erase Taiwan's cultural identity, diplomatic presence, and sovereign existence. A translator just accepted the world's most prestigious literary award and made Taiwan's sovereignty the first thing she said from the stage. #Taiwan #BookerPrize #TaiwanTravelogue #CCP #China #Geopolitics #Literature #TaiwanStrong #LinKing #Democracy