Taiwan Travelogue, written by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translated by Lin King, has won the International Booker Prize 2026, becoming the first book translated from Mandarin Chinese to claim the prestigious literary award.
The announcement was made by the judging panel on May 19 at a ceremony at London’s Tate Modern.
Published by And Other Stories, the novel takes the form of a fictionalised translation of a rediscovered Japanese travel memoir. It charts a culinary tour across Japanese-controlled Taiwan in the 1930s through the relationship between a Japanese author and her Taiwanese interpreter, exploring themes of colonialism, culture and power.
The £50,000 prize money will be split equally between the author and the translator. The award specifically recognises fiction translated into English and published in the UK or Ireland between May 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026.
Natasha Brown, chair of the 2026 judging panel, praised the book for navigating complex historical power dynamics while embedding a sophisticated metafictional layer within its core narrative. Brown described the work as an incredible double feat that succeeds as both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel.
The winning title emerged from a six-book shortlist that included Shida Bazyar’s The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran and Daniel Kehlmann’s The Director. Gaby Wood, chief executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, noted that the panel selected the book for its inventive, playful and profound narrative structure following extensive deliberations.
The International Booker Prize, supported by Bukhman Philanthropies, has spent a decade elevating translated fiction in the global literary market. This historic win for a Mandarin text signals a broadening geographic footprint for the prize, which evaluates long-form fiction based on its impact, depth and the quality of its English translation.
•Featured image: Taiwan Travelogue © India Hobson for Booker Prize Foundation
