Taiwanese book longlisted for National Book Award

The English-language translation of Taiwanese writer Ping Lu’s (平路) To the East of the East (東方之東) has been longlisted for the US’ National Book Award for Translated Literature, marking the second such recognition for a Taiwanese writer after Yang Shuang-zi (楊?子).

Translated by Jeremy Tiang (程異), the novel follows a Taiwanese writer’s trip to Beijing in search of her missing husband and her encounters there, the National Book Foundation said.

The nonprofit announced the longlist on Tuesday.

The cover of To the East of the East is pictured in an undated photograph.

Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Culture

To the East of the East was one of 10 titles — originally published in Arabic, Chinese, French, Indonesian, Norwegian, Russian and Spanish — selected from 159 books, the foundation said.

Nine of the longlisted works are novels, while the other is nonfiction, the foundation added.

The foundation said it would announce the finalists on Oct. 6, while the winner would be revealed live at the 77th National Book Awards Ceremony on Nov. 18.

To the East of the East is the first book in the Ping Lu’s “Taiwan Trilogy.” Published in 2011, the novel was followed by Ilha Formosa (婆娑之島) and Passing (夢魂之地). The trilogy was republished in 2024.

In an interview with reporters, Ping Lu, whose real name is Lu Ping (路平), attributed the recognition to Tiang’s translation, saying that he writes well in English and that “my contribution may only be about 10 percent.”

When the book was published in 2011, she had recently returned to Taiwan after working in Hong Kong as director of the Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center, Taiwan’s cultural office in Hong Kong, the author said.

The novel reflected her circumstances at the time, exploring how a person examines their inner emotions from an outside perspective.

“Sometimes if you go far enough, you can hear the call from within your heart,” she said.

The novel is also about the relationship between an island and the mainland, as well as the betrayal and separation that lead to the realization that one’s ideal life is often linked to the pursuit of freedom, Ping Lu said.

Ping Lu has won several Taiwanese national book awards, such as the National Award for the Arts. Her works have been translated into multiple languages, including English, French, Japanese, Korean and Czech, the foundation said.

Tiang, originally from Singapore, has also translated works by other Taiwanese writers including Su Wei-chen (蘇偉貞), Lo Yi-chin (駱以軍) and Chi Ta-wei (紀大偉).