Taiwan Travelogue by Yáng Shuāng-zǐ, translated by Lin King (Graywolf Press), has won the International Booker Prize 2026, supported by Bukhman Philanthropies. The award honors "the best works of long-form fiction or collections of short stories translated into English and published in the U.K. and/or Ireland." The £50,000 (about $66,985) prize money is divided equally between author and translator.
Chair of judges Natasha Brown said: "Can love overcome a power imbalance? Taiwan Travelogue... teases out the nuances of this question against a backdrop of 1930s Taiwan under Japanese colonial rule.... 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."