Lin King ’22 Wins 2024 National Book Award for Translation

Update:

Lin King ’22 has won the 2024 National Book Award in Translated Literature for her work translating Yáng Shuang-zi’s Taiwan Travelogue to English from its original Mandarin Chinese.  

Competing in an original pool of 141 entrants in the category, King’s translation was named to the longlist in September, a finalist in October, and finally the winner on Wednesday night at the 75th National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City.

The novel follows the unlikely relationship of two women in 1930s Taiwan, a Japanese writer and her Taiwanese interpreter, as they tour the island nation under Japanese rule. The Translated Literature prize is particularly fitting for the book’s exploration of language, culture, and interpretation.

King accepted the award with Shuang-zi, who delivered remarks in Mandarin, which King then translated for the audience. “Some people ask me why I write about things from a hundred years ago,” King translated.  “I always tell them, writing about the past is a means of moving toward the future.

“More than a century ago, some Taiwanese people began making the assertion, ‘Taiwan belongs to the Taiwanese,’” she continued. “Today, many Taiwanese continue to assert this, but now we are addressing it to a different audience. Before, we were saying it to the Japanese. Now, we are saying it to the Chinese.”

After finishing the prepared translation, King added her own remarks on behalf of the duo. “Thank you so much to the National Book Foundation for recognizing us, which I think we both feel is a recognition for the place that we come from, Taiwan.”

King’s remarks concluded with an address to the publishing team behind the translated edition. “Thank you so much to Graywolf Press; especially our editor, Yuka Igarashi, for believing in us.  Thank you so much!”  

As winners, King and Shuang-zi will share a prize of $10,000 and become permanent members of the National Book Foundation.

—

Update October 3, 2024:

Lin King Named Finalist for 2024 National Book Award

Lin King ’22 has been named a Finalist in Translated Literature for the 2024 National Book Awards for her translation of Yáng Shuang-zi’s Taiwan Travelogue from its original Mandarin Chinese.  

The novel, which follows the unlikely relationship of two women in 1930s Taiwan, is one of five titles now in competition for the category’s top prize. The book originally made the longlist of ten titles on September 13, standing out from an initial pool of 141 works submitted in the category.    

The winner, along with those in the four other disciplines (Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, and Young People’s Literature), will be announced on Wednesday, November 20 at the 75th National Book Awards Ceremony in New York City. The ceremony will also be livestreamed by the National Book Foundation.

As a finalist, King will share a $1,000 prize and bronze medal with Shuang-zi. Should the duo win, their prize will grow to include $10,000 and a statue.

King will also be featured at the National Book Awards Finalist Reading on Tuesday, November 19 at NYU Skirball, reading an excerpt from the work. Tickets are available for purchase here, and the event will also be livestreamed.

—
Original: September 19, 2024

Writing alums Lin King ’22, Rachel Kushner ’01, Gregory Pardlo ’16, and Yvette Siegert ’07 have had their work longlisted for the 2024 National Book Awards.

Founded in 1950, the National Book Awards have become one of the most prestigious prizes in literature, recognizing the year’s best work from American authors. Expanding from its original three categories, today the awards span five disciplines, celebrating the year’s best Fiction, Nonfiction, Poetry, Translated Literature, and Young People’s Literature.

The longlists consist of ten titles selected in each discipline. From these titles five Finalists will be announced on October 1, with the winner for each category revealed at the 75th National Book Awards Ceremony on November 20.

Kushner is longlisted in Fiction for her novel Creation Lake. The novel, a New York Times Bestseller that’s also been shortlisted for the 2024 Booker Award, follows an American secret agent as she infiltrates a commune of French subversives and becomes entranced with their enigmatic leader. Kushner is no stranger to the National Book Awards, having previously been named a Finalist in 2008 and 2013, for Telex from Cuba and The Flamethrowers respectively.

In Translated Literature, King made the longlist for her work translating Yáng Shuang-zi’s Taiwan Travelogue from its original Mandarin Chinese. The novel follows the unlikely relationship of two women in 1930s Taiwan, a Japanese writer and her Taiwanese interpreter, as they tour the island nation under Japanese rule.  

Joining King in the category is Siegert for her work translating Fernando Vallejo’s The Abyss from its original Spanish. The autobiographical novel tells the story of a writer visiting his dying brother in Colombia, in a galvanizing account of love, loss, and country.

Rounding out the longlisters is Pardlo in Poetry for his work Spectral Evidence. The book of poems is an exploration of Blackness in America, a deep dive into the beauty and persecution of past and present.

See the full longlist for each discipline here.