Taiwan Travelogue, written by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translated from Mandarin Chinese by Lin King, has been announced as the winner of the International Booker Prize 2026 supported by Bukhman Philanthropies.
Presented as the translation of a rediscovered (fictional) travel memoir, and exploring themes of colonialism, power, class and love, Taiwan Travelogue follows a Japanese novelist with a ‘monstrous appetite’ on a culinary tour through Japan-occupied Taiwan, accompanied by a local interpreter who shares her passion for food. The original Mandarin Chinese publication was a sensation when it was first published in 2020, causing a stir with some readers who thought it was a real translation of a 1930s Japanese text, whilst the extra layer of Lin King’s English language translation (and accompanying footnotes) has prompted critics to remark on its nesting-doll or onion-like qualities.
The winning book was announced by award-winning author Natasha Brown, Chair of the 2026 judges, at a
ceremony in the Turbine Hall at London’s Tate Modern. The International Booker Prize recognises the vital work of translation, with the £50,000 prize money divided equally between the author and the translator. Each received a trophy, presented by Brown. The evening included a screening of six short films starring critically acclaimed actors Kae Alexander, Jehnny Beth, Toheeb Jimoh, Toby Jones, Xelia Mendes-Jones and Indira Varma performing extracts from the shortlisted books, with the winning title read by Alexander.
More about the book
The winning author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ is a writer of fiction, essays, manga and video game scripts and literary criticism. She was awarded Taiwan’s highest literary honour, the Golden Tripod Award, for the original Mandarin Chinese version of Taiwan Travelogue and Lin King’s English language translation of Taiwan Travelogue – the first of Yáng’s books to be translated into English – won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2024 and Asia Society’s inaugural Baifang Schell Book Prize. King has also been recognised for her fiction writing – she has received the PEN/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers and her debut novel, Weeb, is forthcoming.
Taiwan Travelogue is the 11th winner of the International Booker Prize, which this year celebrated a decade since the first winner was awarded the prize in its current form, in 2016. Yáng is the first Taiwanese author and King the first Taiwanese-American translator to win the prize, whilst Yáng is the seventh female author and King the 10th female translator to win. Taiwan Travelogue is the first winning book to have been translated from Mandarin Chinese.
Despite only publishing in March this year in the UK – following the longlist announcement on 24 February –
Taiwan Travelogue was the second-bestselling title on the International Booker Prize 2026 shortlist. The book saw a 65% sales uplift week-on-week following the shortlist announcement. To date, rights have been sold in a total of 23 territories, ranging from Serbia to Indonesia and Brazil to Ukraine. With odds of 5/2, it was the bookmakers’ favourite to win the prize, according to OLBG.com.
This is the second win for Sheffield-based independent press And Other Stories, swiftly following their 2025 win for Heart Lamp, written by Banu Mushtaq and translated by Deepa Bhasthi – the first collection of short stories to win the prize and the first translated from Kannada. Taiwan Travelogue marked their seventh nomination for the prize: The Remainder was shortlisted in 2019, Wretchedness was longlisted in 2021, Phenotypes was longlisted in 2022, Boulder was shortlisted in 2023 and The Book of Disappearance was longlisted in 2025, along with Heart Lamp. They are the ninth independent publisher to win the prize.
What the judges thought
Natasha Brown, International Booker Prize 2026 Chair of judges, says:
‘Can love overcome a power imbalance? Taiwan Travelogue, winner of the International Booker Prize 2026, teases out the nuances of this question against a backdrop of 1930s Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule.
‘Taiwan Travelogue follows Aoyama, a well-meaning author from Japan, and her Taiwanese interpreter, Chizuru, on a government-sponsored tour of Taiwan. From their first meeting, sparks fly between the two women. The power dynamics inherent to their burgeoning relationship, however, prove difficult to navigate. Chizuru is a cipher: enchanting, yet unknowable. She resists all of Aoyama’s efforts to pierce her carefully-constructed mask of professionalism.
‘This book doesn’t shy away from the complexities (both real and fictional) of its journey into the English language. Instead, it uses the hallmarks of a more traditional text– introductions, footnotes, afterwords – to wrap an intriguing metafictional layer around its core love story. Lin King’s deft translation perfectly conveys the nuances of the novel’s narrative voices.
‘Taiwan Travelogue pulls off an incredible double feat: it succeeds as both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel. As judges, we’ve enjoyed rich discussions about the many layers of this book. It’s a captivating, slyly sophisticated novel.’
About the Author & Translator
Author
Yáng Shuāng-zǐ is a Taiwanese writer of fiction, essays, manga and video game scripts, and literary criticism. Taiwan Travelogue, her first book to be translated into English, won the National Book Award for Literature in Translation in 2024 and Asia Society’s inaugural Baifang Schell Book Prize. It has been published or is forthcoming in numerous languages including Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Ukrainian, Italian, German, Dutch, Danish, and Greek.
On her book, she said:
‘Both Korea and Taiwan were once colonies of the Japanese Empire, but Koreans seem to feel uniformly resentful of that history, whereas Taiwanese people regard it with a much more conflicted mix of distaste and nostalgia. Using a contemporary Taiwanese lens, I wanted to untangle the complex circumstances that Taiwan’s people faced in the past, and to explore what kind of future we ought to strive toward.
_‘Research for the novel’s central themes of travel and food changed my life in two obvious ways: my savings went down; my weight went up.’
Translator
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/Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers.
Translations include the graphic novel series The Boy from Clearwater by Yu Pei-Yun and Zhou Jian-Xin and the novel Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, which won the 2024 National Book Award in Translated Literature.
Her debut novel, Weeb, is forthcoming from Holt.
On the book, she said:
‘I personally dislike historical fiction that is strictly miserable. These stories ring to me as untrue, because no matter how difficult times are, I believe that humans always manage to find flickers of levity and deep wells of love. Were Taiwan’s peoples oppressed and mistreated under Japanese rule? Yes, but that does not mean their identities and personalities were bulldozed over by their suffering. There was still humour, good food, movies, school, petty fights, and romance. To suggest otherwise is to reduce a culture to its trauma. That’s what I appreciate about Taiwan Travelogue.
‘I worked very closely with my editor at Graywolf [the book’s US publisher], Yuka Igarashi, who trusted me to run wild with a complex mix of languages, notations, and footnotes. We took a maximalist approach, broke countless translation ‘rules’, and ended up with an experimental, multilayered work that we can be proud of.
‘As a translator it was such a rare opportunity.’
Resources
Everything you need to know about Taiwan Travelogue
Watch an interview with Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and Lin King, author and translator of Taiwan Travelogue
Get involved
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