Taiwan Travelogue, a love letter to food and adventure, wins International Booker Prize
Tiffany Wertheimer
Adrian Dennis / AFP via Getty ImagesA tale about forbidden love and Taiwanese food has won the International Booker Prize, becoming the first novel translated from Mandarin Chinese to win the prestigious award.
Taiwan Travelogue, written by Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi and Taiwanese-American translator Lin King, follows two women on their culinary tour across Taiwan in the 1930s, when the island was under Japanese rule.
Elaborately framed as the translation of a rediscovered travel memoir, complete with fictional footnotes, many readers thought it was about a genuine historic text when the book was first published in 2020.
"It's a captivating, slyly sophisticated novel," said Natasha Brown, the chair of the judging panel.
Taiwan Travelogue centres on a fictional Japanese writer, Aoyama Chizuko, who is on a government-sponsored tour of Taiwan with a Taiwanese translator, O Chizuru, whom she falls in love with.
Through their lens, the novel explores issues of love, culture, colonial history and power.
"Research for the novel's central themes of travel and food changed my life in two obvious ways," Yang told the Booker Prize before her win was announced. "My savings went down; my weight went up."
Taiwan Travelogue had already won several accolades.
Yang, 41, also writes essays, manga and video game scripts. Her original Mandarin Chinese version of the novel won Taiwan's highest literary honour, the Golden Tripod Award in 2021.
Lin King's English translation version won the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2024.
Also speaking before the win, King said she appreciated the balance Taiwan Travelogue struck between the sorrow and joys of Taiwanese people under Japanese control.
"No matter how difficult times are, I believe that humans always manage to find flickers of levity and deep wells of love," she said.
"There was still humour, good food, movies, school, petty fights, and romance. To suggest otherwise is to reduce a culture to its trauma," she said.
In winning the International Booker Prize, the organisers noted in a statement the "vital work of translation", adding the £50,000 ($67,000) prize money would be split equally between the author and translator.
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Audiobook
1 CreditAvailable instantly
Paperback
$31.96
Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel Paperback – 11 February 2025
by Yáng Shuang-zi (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (283)
A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power
May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She’s been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear.
Soon a Taiwanese woman―who is younger even than she is, and who shares the characters of her name―is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true. The charming, erudite, meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the Land of the South and also proves to be an exceptional cook. Over scenic train rides and braised pork rice, lively banter and winter melon tea, Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion and intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is.
Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, this novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 and won Taiwan’s highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.
Product description
Review
"Reading the book is like peeling an onion: the smell is at first undetectable; but with each layer you peel, the smell gets more intoxicating, pungent, intense, and at the very end, it brings tears to your eyes."--Christina Ng
"Yáng Shuāng-zǐ's novel, a runaway bestseller in Taiwan, ranges from playful and intimate depictions of the lush countryside of Taiwan to the ordered world of the colonial city. But what at first feels like a simple travelogue is actually an examination of an often-overlooked period of East Asian history and of the human heart. This wise and wily novel, as self-aware as it is provocative, ultimately goes down like the luscious dumplings that appear in its pages and sent me scrambling for takeout. But what does it mean to eat someone else's food, and what is the nature of a relationship when any kind of power is involved? Beginning in a world as solid and stately as Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters, Taiwan Travelogue deftly takes the reader down a rabbit hole as filled with longing and misunderstanding as Sarah Waters's The Night Watch."--Marie Mutsuki Mockett, author of The Tree Doctor
"Yáng offers rich reflections on colonialism and translation along with delightful depictions of Taiwanese delicacies."--Publishers Weekly
"Translator Lin King manages to produce a metafictional English text that is rich and intimate, full of poetry and humor, and which comfortably plays with the layers of Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. But King's main achievement might be how she carries and sustains the subtle tensions hidden in bits of dialogue, how the nature of the two women's platonic relationship oscillates with each line and encounter. It's an achievement."--Bruna Dantas Lobato
Book Description
A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power
TopAbout this itemSimilarFrom the AuthorQuestionsReviews
Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel
Product details
Publisher : Graywolf Press
Publication date : 11 February 2025
Language : English
Print length : 320 pages
===
Audiobook1 CreditAvailable instantly
Paperback
$31.96
Taiwan Travelogue: A Novel Paperback – 11 February 2025
by Yáng Shuang-zi (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars (283)
A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power
May 1938. The young novelist Aoyama Chizuko has sailed from her home in Nagasaki, Japan, and arrived in Taiwan. She’s been invited there by the Japanese government ruling the island, though she has no interest in their official banquets or imperialist agenda. Instead, Chizuko longs to experience real island life and to taste as much of its authentic cuisine as her famously monstrous appetite can bear.
Soon a Taiwanese woman―who is younger even than she is, and who shares the characters of her name―is hired as her interpreter and makes her dreams come true. The charming, erudite, meticulous Chizuru arranges Chizuko’s travels all over the Land of the South and also proves to be an exceptional cook. Over scenic train rides and braised pork rice, lively banter and winter melon tea, Chizuko grows infatuated with her companion and intent on drawing her closer. But something causes Chizuru to keep her distance. It’s only after a heartbreaking separation that Chizuko begins to grasp what the “something” is.
Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, this novel was a sensation on its first publication in Mandarin Chinese in 2020 and won Taiwan’s highest literary honor, the Golden Tripod Award. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.
Product description
Review
"Reading the book is like peeling an onion: the smell is at first undetectable; but with each layer you peel, the smell gets more intoxicating, pungent, intense, and at the very end, it brings tears to your eyes."--Christina Ng
"Yáng Shuāng-zǐ's novel, a runaway bestseller in Taiwan, ranges from playful and intimate depictions of the lush countryside of Taiwan to the ordered world of the colonial city. But what at first feels like a simple travelogue is actually an examination of an often-overlooked period of East Asian history and of the human heart. This wise and wily novel, as self-aware as it is provocative, ultimately goes down like the luscious dumplings that appear in its pages and sent me scrambling for takeout. But what does it mean to eat someone else's food, and what is the nature of a relationship when any kind of power is involved? Beginning in a world as solid and stately as Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's The Makioka Sisters, Taiwan Travelogue deftly takes the reader down a rabbit hole as filled with longing and misunderstanding as Sarah Waters's The Night Watch."--Marie Mutsuki Mockett, author of The Tree Doctor
"Yáng offers rich reflections on colonialism and translation along with delightful depictions of Taiwanese delicacies."--Publishers Weekly
"Translator Lin King manages to produce a metafictional English text that is rich and intimate, full of poetry and humor, and which comfortably plays with the layers of Japanese and Mandarin Chinese. But King's main achievement might be how she carries and sustains the subtle tensions hidden in bits of dialogue, how the nature of the two women's platonic relationship oscillates with each line and encounter. It's an achievement."--Bruna Dantas Lobato
Book Description
A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power
TopAbout this itemSimilarFrom the AuthorQuestionsReviews
Taiwan Travelogue: A NovelProduct details
Publisher : Graywolf Press
Publication date : 11 February 2025
Language : English
Print length : 320 pages
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From other countries
Kai
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read
Reviewed in Japan on 17 May 2026
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Interesting book with multiple layers of content- Taiwan travel, food and relationships
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Bahram Houchmandzadeh
4.0 out of 5 stars Friendship
Reviewed in France on 12 March 2026
Verified Purchase
This is a subtle book about friendship, but you cannot read it with an empty or a half full estomac. Each chapter title is a dish, and after few pages, you would rush to the kitchen to cook something Chinese or Japanese.
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Sheng-Pei Wang
5.0 out of 5 stars Brought history back alive
Reviewed in the United States on 10 May 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Best novel I’ve read in a long time, combining history, personality and endless local delicacies with historical authenticity. Also very much appreciate how accurate the translations are across 3 different languages. Shuang-zi and King are the perfect author translator match.
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Yvonne
5.0 out of 5 stars Lädt zum Nachdenken ein
Reviewed in Germany on 23 August 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Ein sehr gutes Buch über Taiwans Kolonialgeschichte und die Beziehung zwei sehr unterschiedlicher Frauen.
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Trisha Biswas
5.0 out of 5 stars A Slow-Burn Romance of Food and Friendship
Reviewed in India on 5 April 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
When I first came across Taiwan Travelogue, I honestly thought it was nonfiction. The title sounded like travel writing, something observational and rooted in real journeys. Then I noticed the small line on the cover that says “a novel,” and that made me pause for a second.
What I’ve enjoyed so far is how quietly layered the book feels. On the surface it reads like a travel narrative, with descriptions of food, cities, and conversations. But underneath that, it slowly begins to explore history, language, and the subtle dynamics between people from different places.
The story follows a Japanese writer traveling through Taiwan with a Taiwanese interpreter. Their connection grows through shared meals, translations, and long conversations, but there’s always a certain distance between them. That tension is subtle but it stays with you while reading.
The relationship between Aoyama-san and Chi-chan is where the emotional weight of the novel really sits. There is such an intense pull between them, almost an overwhelming kind of affection from Aoyama-san that sometimes feels suffocating. Their closeness also seems to echo the larger historical context around them, the uneasy intimacy between a colonising power and an island trying to hold on to its own voice and culture.
That tension never quite dissolves. It lingers in the quiet moments between them, and by the end it left a small ache that stayed with me long after I closed the book.
I like that the book doesn’t rush or over explain things. It leaves room for the reader to notice what’s happening between the lines.
Now that Taiwan Travelogue is on the shortlist for the International Booker Prize, I’m even more curious to see how other readers experience it.
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Yangbaa
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in Germany on 8 July 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A very good read. The delivery was very fast!
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BJA
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on 22 April 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
An interesting read. I enjoyed it.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Heart felt
Reviewed in India on 20 November 2024
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Touching story between author and interpreter of culture and tradition set in colonial Taiwan ruled by Japanese empire .fantastic eead
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DGrimes
5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful and Sad story
Reviewed in the United States on 16 April 2026
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This novel presents real divisions within society. This amazing story weaves two women together in a witty, fascinating exchange that causes the mind to develop hopes for their friendship. In reality, though, social constructs seem to always get in the way. It is delightful though traveling through Taiwan with these two women who are ravenously eating their way through deliciousness. Be sure to read your way to the end, where are the outcome unfolds and translators and editors reveal more to the story.
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J. Fiebig
5.0 out of 5 stars A travel book about tasty things
Reviewed in the United States on 3 April 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
A delicious, food-oriented read
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Anmei Su
3.0 out of 5 stars Taiwan under Japanese occupation
Reviewed in the United States on 30 September 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I lived in Taiwan so I was very entertained by the descriptions of historical places and the food. The Japanese colonization of Taiwan is a period of time that is mostly forgotten so that was intriguing to learn about. The characters develop a layered friendship but are separated by the culture and language of the colonizers and the colonized.
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Cinzia
5.0 out of 5 stars It isn’t what it says it is
Reviewed in the United States on 16 May 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
This novel may too smart for me. Lots to unpack and think about. Is an appreciation for a culture’s food the way toward anti-racism and mutual respect? Um, no.
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SG
4.0 out of 5 stars Great book to learn more about Taiwan history and food
Reviewed in the United States on 9 February 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Really interesting book that is fiction but written as if it’s non-fiction (even the forward is fiction, so don’t get confused). It explores the relationship between colonizer and colonized on an individual level, as well as lots of detailed descriptions of Taiwanese food.
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Julian Schroeder
5.0 out of 5 stars Is Friendship even Possible?
Reviewed in the United States on 30 March 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Taiwan Travelogue is the evolution of friendship between a young successful Japanese writer, Aoyama-san, and her translator, Chi Chan, as the two women travel around Taiwan for Aoyama-san's travelogue report back to Japan. Set in 1937, Japan is the imperial power in Asia with Taiwan its colony. Each chapter title, and part of the content, revolves around a special Taiwanese food (rendered in the local language and with an English translation) that also illuminates an aspect of the two women's lives or relationship. Each woman responds to the immense talent of her counterpart. Japan and Taiwan share similar cultures. But subtle distinctions between these two cultures, differences in class (Chi Chan is second daughter of a concubine mother), and assumptions about imperial priviledge lead to blind spots in each woman. Is friendship even possible? Conversations carefully and subtly evolve as each woman tries to bridge this gap, never completely successful in terms of the relationship or in terms of each woman herself. This work is filled with carefully drawn insights about friendship (or relationships), culture, food, class and imperial priviledge.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging but rewarding
Reviewed in the United States on 29 December 2024
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Anyone who loves Taiwan or wants to learn more of its history will find this book delightful, though challenging. Juggling pre WWII history (set in 1938) is the least of the challenges. Here “Mainland” means Japan, while Islander means Taiwanese. But so much other vocabulary, some in Japanese, some in Mandarin, and some in local Taiwanese. And the food names—endless gluttony is one main theme, local sights and customs fading before the explosion of delicacies native to the island, but sometimes having traveled round the world before landing there and receiving a new twist (e.g.curry)! A trilingual map on an opening page is of great help with geography. But what really propels the whole story is the complex developing cross cultural relationship between two young women, only one of whom is the narrator. DO NOT jump to the afterwords at the end—read it straight through for the most sophisticated and subtle understanding not only of then but also of ourselves, now.
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Michael Santocki
2.0 out of 5 stars Slow and mundane
Reviewed in the United States on 23 April 2026
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I was looking forward to this book and sadly just couldn’t finish it. It takes the reader into mundane day to day issues without going into the historical context of pre war Japan and Taiwan. Simply put, it’s very boring.
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Sabrina Chueh
5.0 out of 5 stars True story with outstanding translations!
Reviewed in the United States on 13 August 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
One of my favorite books…based on a true story! I cried after reading their offsprings’s notes in the end!
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Avery H
5.0 out of 5 stars light up the confusion in many Taiwanese's mind. A must-read novel
Reviewed in the United States on 25 November 2024
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Beautifully written, sad, bitter, sweet novel. As a Taiwanese, somtimes it's easily to forget what is our root, what represents us. This novel truly presented the culture of Taiwan, the food, the scenert, the confusion in the Islanders' mind. It's definately a must-read novel you most certainly cannot miss. ''For something small that I can do for you- so long as it's within my ability.'' So beautiful and heartbreaking.
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DavidD
3.0 out of 5 stars Light humor
Reviewed in the United States on 4 July 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Mildly amusing. More heavy topics like the history of colonial rule by Japan only a little touched on.
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Bob R
5.0 out of 5 stars excellent read
Reviewed in the United States on 2 October 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
good read.
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Grace M Wu
5.0 out of 5 stars Award winning book!
Reviewed in the United States on 3 September 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Excellent book! Must have!
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VH
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinate story.
Reviewed in the United States on 9 February 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Well written and well structured, the authors did their homework. Can’t stop reading it.
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Gerald E. Noeske
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent item arrived right on schedule!
Reviewed in the United States on 9 January 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Excellent item arrived right on schedule!
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Dewdrop
2.0 out of 5 stars Descriptions of Taiwanese street food
Reviewed in the United States on 6 March 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
I gave up 2/3 of the way through. The chapters are repetitious - each is devoted to a different kind of street food. The book seems intended as a way to introduce Japanese to traditional Taiwaneses food. As literature, the book falls flat. The thin plot is boring and pretty meaningless.
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Carroll Steger
1.0 out of 5 stars Boring
Reviewed in the United States on 6 January 2025
Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
Did not get very far into it, because the protagonist was so obnoxiously self-centered I really couldn’t stomach her.
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