TIBE book prize winners announced in Taipei

Winners of the 2020 Taipei International Book Exhibition Book Prize were announced Jan. 2, showcasing Taiwan’s tremendous depth of publishing talent.

The Chinese-language awards recognize three writers each for the categories of fiction, nonfiction and children and young adults, as well as a single recipient for editing.

Chen Shu-yao [陳淑瑤], Lee Wei-jing [李維菁] and Lolita Hu [胡晴舫] won the fiction prizes. Chen’s novel tells the story of a single middle-aged women who accompanies her mother to face the challenges of loneliness and growing old.

Lee, who passed away in 2018, was honored posthumously for her novel of self-discovery about a woman who takes up ballroom dancing as she tries to recover from childhood abuse. Hu’s work examines various topics of societal debate, including student movements, same-sex marriage legalization and the impact of social media.

The nonfiction awards went to writers Chen Yi-ru, Ren Yi-dao and Tsai Ching-hua for books exploring women’s physical autonomy and female sexuality; a social worker’s perspective on psychiatric patients; and Frankfurt’s history and its influence on Germany and Europe, respectively.

For children and young adults, Chang Yeou-yu and Shain Lin claimed prizes for their collaborative picture book martial arts story, Huang Yi-feng won for his work introducing animals to youngsters, and An Shih-liu was honored for his collection of fairy tales.

The editing prize went to Chu Ya-chun from Taipei City-based Aquarius Publishing Co. Ltd. for her long-time collaboration on texts that spotlight social issues and the darker side of human nature, as well as her contributions toward page-to-screen adaptations.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the TIBE Book Prize is one of the most prestigious literature awards for ROC (Taiwan) citizens. Each of this year’s winners is set to receive a trophy and cash prize of NT$100,000 (US$3,326) at the exhibition’s opening ceremony Feb. 4 at Taipei World Trade Center.

Organized by Taipei Book Fair Foundation, TIBE is Taiwan’s largest annual publishing industry expo. Scheduled to run through Feb. 9, this year’s edition will feature South Korea as its theme country with focuses on promoting bilateral copyright trading and fostering cultural exchanges. (YCH-E)