This week, Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi (楊双子) and  Taiwanese-American translator Lin King (金翎) made history winning the International Booker Prize for the novel Taiwan Travelogue. In an interview on Tuesday, Yang spoke on Taiwanese literature and how she hopes other works from Taiwan can reach the world stage.

Asked about identity, Yang said that questions about Taiwanese literature, cuisine, and other aspects of the culture are really asking what it means to be Taiwanese. She said her own vision of what it means to be Taiwanese is not grounded in bloodline, ethnicity, or other essentialist notions, but rather by a common experience living together on the island and moving toward a vision of the future together.

Yang said the power of literature should never be underestimated and that her persistence in writing through years of financial hardship is proof of that power. She reiterated her hope that the world will come to know Taiwan’s diversity through its people’s stories.