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Read Previous Part: Malaysian-Chinese Literature in Taiwan (I)

Like Lee Yung Ping (李永平), Zhang Guixing (張貴興) is also from Borneo and rose to fame in Taiwan’s literary scene with his novel Capturing the Tiger. He developed his own distinct style, as evident in Herds of Elephants (published in Japanese by Jimbun Shoin) and The Primate Cup, which were both sensations in Taiwanese literary circles and earned him notoriety far and wide. Published in 2018, Wild Boars Cross the River blends history, legend and folklore to tell the story of an agonising period in Sarawak history. In Taiwan, it has been hailed as one of the best novels in recent years and went on to win the Golden Tripod Award, Taiwan Literature Award, China Times Open Book Award, and sell French rights!

Wild Boars Cross the River

Ng Kim Chew (黃錦樹), whose titles include Lightless and Dreams, Pigs, and Dawn (published in Japanese by Jimbun Shoin), has attracted attention for his courage to experiment with style and tackle challenging subject-matters. He has won numerous literary prizes and his works From Island to Island, Memorandums of the South Seas People's Republic, Fish and Rain explore national Malaysian-Chinese political disputes.

Lightless

Li Zishu (黎紫書) immediately became a sensation when “Maggot Nightmare” was published, and her short story collections Gateway to Heaven, Wild Buddha, The Years of Remembrance portray Malaysian-Chinese families, ethnicity and nationality using magical realism and collective memory. Her new work Through Customs and Places elegantly tells the story of a city and a blind girl, it contemplates the fates of ethnically Chinese people with low social status in Malaysian society and how they flow like a river through the country’s small towns. 

Elsewhere, Ho Sok Fong’s (賀淑芳) story “Never Mention It Again” touches on the taboo subject of conflict between religion and Malaysian-Chinese shamans, Maze Carpet and Lake Like a Mirror concisely convey in-depth female perspectives on desire, society and religion. Lake Like a Mirror was translated into English and published by Granta Books in the UK and Two Lines Press in the US.

After being subjected to colonial rule by the West from Portugal, the Netherlands and Great Britain, as well as three years and eight months under Japanese rule, Malaysia found that the various segregation policies implemented by the colonising forces had caused conflict between each of the main ethnic groups. Clashes had arisen following independence, while at the same time the Malaysian government was facing military challenges from Malay, Islamic and Indian forces, among others.

Malaysia sits on the equator, with its hot, humid climate and rubber plantations, oil palm fields and tropical rainforest. Although it has gone from being a colony to a post-colonial state, the Malay, Indian, Malaysian-Chinese and indigenous populations each face their own set of conflicts involving social status, class, wealth, politics, religion and language, all caused by deep historical wounds and memories. Their unique stories are theirs alone, and as the visibility of Malaysian-Chinese literature overseas continues to increase we can look forward to seeing how it develops in the future.

Since the 1960s, many Malaysian-Chinese high school graduates have chosen to do their higher education in Taiwan so they can continue studying in Chinese (they’ve also benefitted from the Kuomintang’s Overseas Chinese Education Policy). The federation of Malaysia was formed on 16 September 1963, although it had achieved independence several years earlier in 1957. 

The Malaysian-Chinese students who came to Taiwan, such as Shang Wanyun (商晚筠), Lee Yung Ping (李永平), Zhang Guixing (張貴興) and the poet Lin Lü (林綠), devoted themselves to creating literature and went on to win national prizes and publish books as well as literary criticism. The emergence of these authors and the award-winning works that they published, established Taiwan as the first domain of Malaysian-Chinese literature. 

We cannot forget that first generation of scholars: Zheng Liangshu (鄭良樹), Lim Chooi Kwa (林水檺), and the poet Li Youcheng’s (李有成) Constellation Poetry Society (1964-), whose members included Chen Huihua (陳慧樺), Lin Lü, Dan Ying (淡瑩) and Wang Runhua (王潤華), among others. Or later, the group of literary friends who formed the Divine Land Poetry Society (1976-1980, Woon Swee Oan (溫瑞安), Fang E’zhen (方娥真), Huang Hunxing (黃昏星), Zhou Qingxiao (周清嘯) etc); or Pan Yutong (潘雨桐), who won the third United Daily News Book Prize in the early 1980s; or Ng Kim Chew (黃錦樹), Chen Dawei (陳大為), Zhong Yiwen (鍾怡雯) and Lin Xingqian (林幸謙) who each won major literary awards and brought their combination of creativity and research experience to Taiwan’s education system. At the same time, there were also humanities scholars such as Tee Kim Tong (張錦忠), Lin Jianguo (林建國), Wei Yueping (魏月萍) and Gao Jiaqian (高嘉謙), who wrote from a critical perspective on contemporary art, literature and historical research. 

By the late 1990s and the early 2000s, when Lee Tian Poh (李天葆) and Ho Sok Fong (賀淑芳) became well-known and Li Zishu (黎紫書) rapidly rose to fame after winning both the United Daily News Book Prize and the China Times Literature Award, Malaysian-Chinese writers had already been living in Taiwan for 50 years (1967-present) and established a strong reputation. 

Key examples of fiction from this era include the novels of Shang Wanyun (1952-1995), who, following her untimely death, left behind Stupid Ah-Lian and The Seven-Coloured Water Flower, as well as the unfinished works Fleas and Earthly Fireworks.

Lee Yung Ping

Lee Yung Ping (1947-2017) became famous following the publication of his story “A La-tzu Woman”, then Retribution: The Jiling Chronicles (published in Japanese by Jimbun Shoin and English by Columbia University Press) shocked the Taiwanese literary scene. More recently, his two-part novel The End of the River (part one: Flowing Upstream, part two: Mountains) and Zhu Ling’s Adventures in Wonderland (Japanese translation in progress) have portrayed the treacherous nature of Borneo’s tropical rainforest. His unfinished work, The Portrait of a Swordswoman, pays tribute to the world of Wuxia, continuing in the spirit of Tang Dynasty legends and chivalric novels.

The Portrait of a Swordswoman

 

Read on: Malaysian-Chinese Literature in Taiwan (II)

Books from Taiwan supports the translation of Taiwanese literature into foreign languages with the Translation Grant Program, administered by The Ministry of Culture of Taiwan. The grant is to encourage the publication of translations of Taiwan’s literature, including fiction, non-fiction, picture books and comics, and help Taiwan’s publishing industry to explore non-Chinese international markets.

 

•    Applicant Eligibility: Foreign publishers (legal persons) legally registered in accordance with the laws and regulations of their respective countries.

•    Conditions:

1. Works translated shall be original, published works (for example, fiction, non-fiction, picture books, and comics but not anthologies) by Taiwanese writers (Republic of China nationals) in traditional Chinese characters.

2. Priority is given to works to be translated and published for the first time in a non-Chinese language market.

3. Applicants are not limited to submitting only one project for funding in each application year; however, an applicant may only receive funding for up to three projects in any given round of applications.

4. Projects receiving funding shall have already obtained authorization for translation, and be published within two years starting from the date of announcement of grant recipients (published before the end of October).

 

•    Funding Items and Amount

1. Funds may cover licensing fees going to the rights holder of the original work, translation fees, and promotional fees (limited to an economy-class airline ticket for authors who are citizens of the Republic of China traveling abroad to attend promotional activities), and book production fees.

2. The maximum funding available for any given project is NT$600,000 (including income tax and remittance charges).

3. Priority consideration will be given to those works that have not yet been published in a language other than Chinese, as well as winners of a Golden Tripod Award, Golden Comic Award, or Taiwan Literature Golden Award (list appended.)

•    Application Period: Twice every year. The MOC reserves the right to change the application periods, and will announce said changes separately. The first application period for 2020 is April1 through April 30.

•    Announcement of successful applications: Winners will be announced within three months of the end of the application period.

•    Application Method: Please visit the Ministry’s website (https://grants.moc.gov.tw/Web_ENG/PointDetail.jsp?__viewstate=5EIMFXS2V5PTM1JCFQWT0yMDIwJCFQVD0yOTAyJCFTdGF0dXNQYXJhbWV0ZXI9S2V5LFBZLFBULCQh), and use the online application system.

For full details of the Translation Grant Program, please visit http://booksfromtaiwan.tw/grant_index.php
Or contact: [email protected]

 

*Recommended Books for Translation Grant Program 

The Korean Book Market: Female Writers on the Rise

 

The Korean book market is becoming more diverse: market shares of books on philosophy, textbooks and careers advice are rising, while novels and travel books have fallen off a little. And since 2018 books on dealing with depression have attracted more interest. Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 struck a chord with female readers. Meanwhile, Korea is seeing a notable increase in the number of female readers in their 40s – up 11% since 2015, to 33%. And this is reflected in the success female writers are finding in the Korean bestseller lists: Eight of 2019’s ten top novels were written by women. These includes Cho Nam-joo’s Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, Son Won-pyeong’s Almond, Choi Eun-young’s Shoko’s Smile and Han Gang’s Human Act. Look at the Korean book market and the number and quality of novels written from a female point of view and books on social issues stand out.

Korean literature is currently popular in Japan, but Michelle Nam doesn’t put this down to a perhaps similar cultural background. Success in overseas markets is still determined by how well publishers understand writers and their writing.

“It took a long time for books like this, capable of having such a huge social impact, to emerge in Korea.” “As long as more people are reading it, everyone should read this book.” This is how Kim Ji-young, Born 1982’s two editors conclude their Youtube video. And the publishing industry may be facing tough challenges, but with hard work a good story can still find readers all over the world.

 

Germany: Children’s Books Remain Popular, Ensuring Our Future Audience

“I didn’t have any other paper with me, I had to make a note on a serviette.” Mona Lang, editor with German publishers Kiepenheur & Kitsch, describes how she first heard of Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 over dinner with a book scout. The treatment of gender issues convinced both her boss and the marketing department: this was a very promising book. Other books with similar themes, told from the viewpoint of young urban women, written by authors from Turkey and Eastern Europe, had already sold well in German bookstores.

“Any topic could grab us,” said Mona. And while she and her colleagues are discussing a book, it is often the editorial and marketing departments working together to decide whether a book should be published, and if so how to promote it. In Germany, books used to be promoted by offering free copies of books to a limited number of readers who wrote in; while local guided-reading events see an hour of reading followed by an hour-long question-and-answer session. Interactive events like that are ideal for readers who like to meet their authors in person.

“The German book market is healthy, even if we are struggling to survive like everyone else.” To laughter, Mona pointed out that steady sales of children’s books offer reassurance: “This means we will still have an audience two decades from now.” She added that they need trusted manuscript readers before publishing Asian books, and that books already successful in English-language markets such as the UK and US are more likely to pique the interest of German publishers.

The 7th Taipei Rights Workshop welcomed publishing industry workers from around the world: agents who have sold international rights to Asian books; the overseas editors who have snapped up those books; and even book scouts on the lookout for compelling plots to tempt movie-makers with. Our theme this year - “from literature, to the world” – saw us discuss our views on the book market in different countries. 

 

The Story Behind Kim Ji-young, Born 1982

The film adaptation of Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, now in cinemas starring Gong Yoo and Jung Yu-mi, has sent the global bestseller back to the top of the charts in Korea. Michelle Nam, executive director of the book’s publisher, Minumsa, spoke at the workshop about the state of the book market in Korea and the story behind Kim Ji-young, Born 1982.

And when she spoke about acquiring readers – “Youtube is a huge challenge for publishers, young people even treat it as a search engine,” – the publishers in the audience smiled in recognition. But Minumsa is now marketing its books via Youtube:  it launched a channel on the video-sharing platform in May, featuring editors talking about their books. A video for Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, answers readers’ questions and talks about the publishing process and how the movie adaptation came about.

“And I was first to look at the submission!”, head of Minumsa’s Korean literature division, Seo Hyo-in, said. The author, Cho Nam-joo, already an award-winner, made a special request in her cover letter: “I do hope you reply, whether you want the book or not. It’s so saddening to get no response…” On reading the manuscript the entire editor’s office agreed: this had potential. But sales figures for this tale of one Korean woman amazed even them. “Initially I wanted to say it’d sell 10,000 copies,” laughs Seo, before recalling a colleague quietly advising less ambition. In the end a sales target of 8,000 copies was set. And actual sales so far? 150 times that target – 1.2 million. 

2019 saw Books from Taiwan attend the world’s two largest books fairs, Frankfurt and Guadalajara, presenting the best of Taiwan’s books to an international audience.

 

The Frankfurt Book Fair

The Taiwanese presence at the Frankfurt Book Fair expanded this year – as well as the usual stand alongside other East Asian publishers from Korea, Thailand, Japan and elsewhere in the Asian section, also had a Taiwanese Comic Book Stand in Hall 3, hoping to introduce Taiwan’s comic books to more visitors.

 

 

So, making the journey to Germany alongside Liao Hongji (廖鴻基) and Syaman Rapongan (夏曼．藍波安), both known for their writings on the ocean, were three manga artists: Chang Sheng (常勝), who has sold international rights to his shonen manga; Hom, who excels at portraying urban life; and Chen Hanling (陳漢玲), cosplayer and shojo manga artist.

And with two locations, we could take more books to promote. At our usual stand, the 10th issue of our catalog, still warm from the printing press; and 20 novels, non-fiction books and picture books. And as for our comic book stand? Well… comic books, of course!

During three busy trade-only days, BFT met and talked shop with editors from around the world. Books that won particular interest include:

1. Wild Boars Cross the River (野豬渡河), Zhang Guixing (張貴興): A literary epic set amongst the Chinese settlers of Borneo during World War II.

2. What’s It Like Growing up? (長大是什麼樣子) Wu Yi-Ting (吳宜庭): A child-friendly look at growing-up, full of creativity and wisdom.

3. Quiet Is a Superpower (安靜是種超能力), Jill Chang (張瀞仁): A workplace survival guide, helping introverts see their strengths. Based on the author’s own experiences.

And alongside marketing our books, BFT met with our counterparts from around the world, such as Turkey’s Yatedam and Catalonia’s Intitute Ramon Llull, comparing notes and swopping advice – all of which will help in our future work.

 

The Guadalajara Book Fair

The world’s second-largest book fair, and the Spanish-speaking world’s largest, the Guadalajara Book Fair was yet again bustling with book-lovers from all over. Activities in the children’s book area were always popular with both children and adults; in the Mexican section books from Spanish-speaking nations including Spain, Argentina and Columbia were on display; and retailers from the US were snapping up books alongside the locals. In the international section there were international rights agents, a rights center and publishers from all over the world – and, of course, the Taiwanese stand.

 

 

The Taiwan stand aimed, as always, for visual impact. Both illustrator Lai Ma (賴馬), a bold user of color whose images burst with movement, and graphic novelist Sean Chuang (小莊), known for detailed portrayals of events both everyday and extraordinary, were there to sign books, chat to visitors and show how they work. BFT contributed to the Taiwan stand by displaying 20 children’s books and comic books, offering a visual introduction to Taiwan.

Mexico is a long way from Taiwan – a fourteen-hour time difference, and no direct flights. The journey takes a full day and more, so Taiwanese publishers aren’t regular visitors and there isn’t a great deal of back and forth communication. While at other book fairs we find ourselves expanding and consolidating our networks, in Guadalajara we were more starting from scratch, introducing people to Taiwan and its books and publishers.

It was comic books that got most interest this time. Unlike with novels, it is the visuals, not the story, that grabs editors’ attention. The authors that got the most interest at Guadalajara were – apart from Lai Ma and Sean Chuang, who were present – as follows:

1. 61Chi: 61Chi attended the Guadalajara Book Fair in 2018, and is known for the unique style with which she portrays life’s little details.

2. Yellow Book: Bright colors, a somewhat American visual style, and satirical stories.

 

After a long year of selecting books and translating and editing samples, international book fairs are BFT’s chance to shine and show publishers at home and abroad what we’ve spent the last twelve months doing. These events are also an opportunity for us to experience first hand how successful we are in promoting Taiwanese book rights and see how we can further improve.

Basis Books is found on Huayin Street, near Taipei Station, the Qsquare shopping mall, the North Gate of the old city walls and any number of hotels. The area is popular with tourists, yet remains one of the more peaceful parts of the city.

The store is on the first floor of the Taiwan Comic Base, with which it shares a mission: promoting Taiwanese comic books. It aims to be comprehensive and it seems every original comic book ever published in Taiwan can be found here. From the earliest examples – Grand Auntie (大嬸婆) and Jhuge-Shiro (諸葛四郎) – to recently successful shojo and shonen manga, it’s all here. But being published in Taiwan doesn’t guarantee a place on the shelves here – Basis Books only stocks comic books both written and drawn by Taiwanese people.

 

 

Comic books and picture books are sold here, along with magazines. Most are arranged by publisher – manager Min-hui says she did once consider arranging her wares by category, or theme, or some other method. But she soon realized one book could easily fall under several different categories. And, as Taiwan’s comic book publishers all have their own styles and audiences, it made sense to sort the shelves this way, highlighting those differing choices.

Alongside the comic books, Basis Books also has an exhibition space, with displays tying in with the work of the Taiwan Comic Base: featuring nominees for the Golden Comic Award or the Angoulême awards, for example. And on a central table the staff create carefully designed displays on certain themes: works featuring Mazu, the local sea goddess, or Taiwanese history.

 

 

Basis Books also holds events such as seminars and book-signings. One such event Min-hui remembers particularly clearly is a talk on Watched Woman (守娘), easily the most glamourous of their events – the author, the readers, the other writers, were all women who’d dressed up for the occasion. And not all the attendees were fans – many were friends of the author, or aspiring comic book writers themselves.

Min-hui mentioned an interesting phenomenon – although Taiwan’s comic book artists, in theory, compete with each other, there is no sense of competition or mutual disregard. On the contrary, artists make an effort to attend each other’s events and buy each other’s works.

 

 

When she opened Basis Books, Min-hui expected her customers to be like the people she saw at comic book exhibitions: young fans of shojo and shonen manga. She was surprised to find many of her customers have never read a comic book – they have simply come in for a browse. They are also older than she predicted, often university students or adults. And so they opt for a wider and more experimental range of books, not just the typical Japanese-style offerings.

And the customers in Basis Books reflect the development of comic books in Taiwan. In the early days these were school contraband, frowned upon by teachers and parents, but not something to read when you were older. Unless you visit Basis Books and get nostalgic – or perhaps finally find the final entry in that series you never finished. And many visitors discover that, despite their prejudices, comic books aren’t just entertainment – they have a social role to play as well, offering a space for discussion of current affairs or a new angle on historical events. Parents often bring their children here, trying to understand why their offspring are so keen on comic books, and perhaps becoming less suspicious of them. Some even buy comic books for their kids as a reward for good behavior.

Of course, Min-hui’s most important task is to sell books, and like any store, new releases and books featured in events sell best. But books featuring Taiwanese history and culture are popular with those who’ve popped in from the street out of curiosity. For example 1661 Koxinga Z (1661 國姓來襲), which describes Koxinga’s defeat of Dutch Formosa from the point of view of the Dutch, or 80’s Diary in Taiwan (80 年代事件簿), a nostalgic look at 1980s Taiwan, are popular choices. And what does Min-hui herself recommend currently? She suggests The Memory Freak (記憶的怪物), a sci-fi tale of male love and brotherhood.

 

For those of you who are tasked with promoting literature from Taiwan, you might be familiar with these questions from international publishers:

“Could you tell me about Taiwanese literature?”

“What are people reading in Taiwan?”

“What kind of books are published in Taiwan?”

 

Before answering, it may be best to start with a brief overview about Taiwan. This might seem obvious, but it’s not one of the most well-known countries, and many people outside our neighbouring countries are often unfamiliar with it.

 

We are a country of 23.5 million people. The official language is Mandarin Chinese, and we write using Traditional Chinese characters (Mainland China uses Simplified Chinese, but HK and Macau also use Traditional Chinese). The island is dense with nature; indeed, mountains and forests make up around 55% of the land.

 

There are around 4,940 publishing houses in Taiwan, and 35,000-40,000 new titles are published each year, one quarter of which are translations. Translations are most commonly licensed from Japan (55.4%), USA (22.1%), United Kingdom (7.2%) and South Korea (5.1%). The bestseller in 2018 was Origin by Dan Brown.[1]

 

Here are the genre breakdowns on books published and top-sellers:

 

Top 5 genres published [ranked by number of books published]:

• Humanities: 12.62%
• Social studies: 11.06%
• Fiction: 10.71%
• Children’s Books: 9.68%
• Arts: 7.18% [2]

 

Top 5 best-selling genres [ranked by NT$ sales]:

• Children’s books and YA: 17.2%
• Business and finance: 8.7%
• Self-help: 8.6%
• Humanities: 8.1%
• Language learning: 7.8%[3]

 

The density of publishers is high. One reason for this is that we have many small publishing houses that are 1-2 people operations. Only a small percentage of publishers are corporate scaled companies. The same could be said about most other industries in Taiwan; our businesses are made up of small and medium enterprises.

 

There are over 2000 book stores across the country. The biggest physical book store chains are Kingstone (金石堂) and Eslite (誠品). Eslite operates similarly to commercial department stores, in that it offers a wide selection of lifestyle concession brands, food courts, as well as books. The way they differentiate themselves is by utilising their cultural knowledge to curate shopping experiences that are distinguished and which appeal to a new group of discerning consumers. Aside from their operations in Taiwan, they have expanded into HK, Suzhou, and Shenzhen. In September 2019 they launched a new store in Tokyo. These expansions could be viewed as markers of their success and as evidence of the strength of their brand image.

 

When it comes to online retailing, the key player is Books.com (博客來). It has a similar business model to Amazon, and is a part of the Uni-President conglomerate (統一集團). It takes advantage of the group’s highly developed logistics, and offers the delivery of books (and other goods) to your local convenience stores for pick-up and payment upon collection.

 

Indie booksellers in Taiwan tend to focus on their niche for a more specific target audience, for example photography books, foreign picture books, books about Taiwan and the ocean, etc. They tend to be keen event organisers for book launches or readings, attracting more dedicated readers and paying attention to building their own communities.

 

Most readers still read more physical books than e-books. Even though the usage of digital devices is common, there is no dominant e-reader in the market in the same way Kindle has penetrated in Europe & North America. One issue preventing e-reader adoption is that many bestseller translation titles are not available as e-books, making it harder to persuade readers to give up their physical books.

The annual production value of the publishing industry in Taiwan is around USD $795 million. The average book price is around USD $14 per book, and the average amount of money spent on books per year is around USD $37 per capita.[4] That means each person buys on average just 2.5 books per year, a number that could be significantly improved. In terms of how best to cultivate regular book-buying and long-term reading habits, there are ongoing discussions and debates. It is worth noting that currently there is no fixed book price in Taiwan.

 

Publishers have been keener to cultivate new local talents, and this trend can be seen across all genres. The Illustrator’s Exhibition at Bologna Book Fair, where images can speak as loudly as words, has frequently featured Taiwanese illustrators. This has been a strong area for foreign edition sales as well as for direct collaborations between illustrators and international publishers. Page Tsou’s (鄒駿昇) publication with Templar, along with Chunlun Lee’s (李瑾倫) picture books with Walker are some recent examples.

 

The foreign rights sales to other countries have been steadily increasing too, these include licensing to China 82.7%, South Korea 6.5%, Malaysia 4.1%, Thailand 2.5% and Japan 2.1%.[5] The majority of the trade is still with China, where translation is not an issue. However, the current support scheme to make sample translations more available has already made an impact on foreign language sales and helped in broadcasting Taiwanese literature abroad.

 

At Guadalajara Book Fair, the Taiwan pavilion makes a deliberate decision to showcase picture and illustrated books. So, when I am asked about notable Taiwanese authors or illustrators, Jimmy Liao (幾米) and Chih-Yuan Chen (陳致元) immediately come to mind. More than 20 Jimmy Liao books have been translated into Spanish, whilst Guji Guji by Chih-Yuan Chen has been a classic backlist in translated editions for many years.

 

Taiwan has many authors well-known for their literary fiction. Sanmao (三毛), who was a translator and a writer, is most famous for her travel writing and reflective novels. Pai Hsien-yung’s (白先勇) Crystal Boys (1983) is notable as one of the classic LGBT novels. Li Ang (李昂) continues to be an important voice, and her novels still bring forth discussions on gender roles in our society. Huang Chun-ming (黃春明), one of the most important writers of country realism (鄉土文學), has depicted the way individuals maintain their dignity despite the harsh living conditions during Taiwan’s intense industrialization period. Qiu Miaojin’s (邱妙津) Notes of a Crocodile continues to have a profound impact on LGBT literature in the Chinese language world. Wu Ming-yi (吳明益) is probably the most well-known Taiwanese author internationally today. His environmental novel The Man with Compound Eyes has been published in multiple languages including in English. In The Stolen Bicycle, Wu takes the readers on a trip down the narrator’s unusual memory lane to discover the hidden history of Taiwan’s bicycle industry. This novel garnered considerable publicity and was longlisted for the Man Booker International Prize in 2018, becoming the first Taiwanese novel to be included in the award.

 

Taipei International Book Exhibition takes place during the Lunar New Year holidays in February each year. The book fair is becoming a strong hybrid festival, somewhere for readers to see local/international authors and to buy books, as well as a place for professionals to conduct business meetings. Elsewhere, Wordwave festival (華文朗讀節) is in its 7th year. This annual 3-4 day event invites authors and publishers to give readings to connect with readers of all ages.

 

Lastly, I wanted briefly to mention social media and professional book review sites. OpenBook is one of the more established online platforms for professional book reviews. Okapi is another book review platform and is part of Books.com. Eslite prints a free monthly magazine, On the Desk (提案), in which they publish author interviews, articles on special topics, as well as coverage on new publications in Chinese and English language; the content is also available on their website.

 

Aside from large platforms, personal blogs can be good sources of book reviews if you search by book title or by author. Youtube or Facebook influencers who specialize in book reviews can provide strong indications on books that are trending in the market. Non-fiction and children’s books tend to be featured the most on these channels.

 

The summaries above are a combination of statistics from the Ministry of Culture in Taiwan, my personal observations, and informal questionnaires and exchanges with other industry colleagues. Taiwan’s publishing industry is vibrant, energetic and multicultural, but it would benefit variously from a little streamlining, from the regular gathering of accurate statistics, and from the centralization of information for professionals. In recent years, there have been different challenges facing the industry, but the passion of the professionals who work in publishing is clearly undiminished, and this means it remains an incredibly exciting part of Taiwan’s culture and economy.

 

---

[1] Sources: National Central Library, Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General of Budget,

Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, World Economic Forum (2018)

[2] As above

[3] Sources: National Central Library, Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General of Budget,

Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, World Economic Forum (2018)

[4] Sources: National Central Library, Ministry of Culture, Directorate-General of Budget,

Accounting and Statistics, Executive Yuan, World Economic Forum (2018)

[5] Sources: 106 年臺灣出版產業調查暨 107 年閱讀與消費趨勢分析, Ministry of Culture

Books from Taiwan supports the translation of Taiwanese literature into foreign languages with the Translation Grant Program, administered by The Ministry of Culture of Taiwan. The grant is to encourage the publication of translations of Taiwan’s literature, including fiction, non-fiction, picture books and comics, and help Taiwan’s publishing industry to explore non-Chinese international markets.

 

•    Applicant Eligibility: Foreign publishers (legal persons) legally registered in accordance with the laws and regulations of their respective countries.

•    Conditions:

1. Works translated shall be original, published works (for example, fiction, non-fiction, picture books, and comics but not anthologies) by Taiwanese writers (Republic of China nationals) in traditional Chinese characters.

2. Priority is given to works to be translated and published for the first time in a non-Chinese language market.

3. Applicants are not limited to submitting only one project for funding in each application year; however, an applicant may only receive funding for up to three projects in any given round of applications.

4. Projects receiving funding shall have already obtained authorization for translation, and be published within two years starting from the date of announcement of grant recipients (published before the end of October).

 

•    Funding Items and Amount

1. Funds may cover licensing fees going to the rights holder of the original work, translation fees, and promotional fees (limited to an economy-class airline ticket for authors who are citizens of the Republic of China traveling abroad to attend promotional activities), and book production fees.

2. The maximum funding available for any given project is NT$600,000 (including income tax and remittance charges).

3. Priority consideration will be given to those works that have not yet been published in a language other than Chinese, as well as winners of a Golden Tripod Award, Golden Comic Award, or Taiwan Literature Golden Award (list appended.)

•    Application Period: Twice every year. The MOC reserves the right to change the application periods, and will announce said changes separately. The second application period for 2019 is October 1 through October 31.

•    Announcement of successful applications: Winners will be announced within three months of the end of the application period.

•    Application Method: Please visit the Ministry’s website (https://grants.moc.gov.tw/Web_ENG/PointDetail.jsp?__viewstate=4gSTKS2V5PTM1JCFQWT0yMDE5JCFQVD0yNDY0JCFTdGF0dXNQYXJhbWV0ZXI9S2V5LFBZLFBULCQh), and use the online application system.

For full details of the Translation Grant Program, please visit http://booksfromtaiwan.tw/grant_index.php
Or contact: [email protected]

 

*Recommended Books for Translation Grant Program