TAIWAN TRAVELOGUE (INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE 2026)

Taiwan Travelogue is the winner of the 2026 International Booker Prize. It unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.

A bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history, and power. Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer.

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.

Taiwan Travelogue - Yang Shuang-zi - 9781916751651