Culture Minister Li Yuan (李遠) met with Booker Prize Foundation Chief Executive Gaby Wood in London on Wednesday, September 9, to discuss the international impact of Yang Shuang-zi’s (楊双子) 2026 International Booker Prize-winning novel “Taiwan Travelogue” translated by Lin King (金翎), and to explore lessons for Taiwan’s own children’s literature awards.

Held at the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K., the meeting also included the foundation’s director of prizes Hannah Davies and prizes manager Lillie Razvi-Toon. Li called it an “historic meeting,” saying the win has greatly encouraged Taiwanese writers and emerging creators. 

Wood explained that the International Booker Prize shifted a decade ago to honor a single translated book, with author and translator sharing the prize, to boost readership of translated literature and persuade publishers that such works are worth releasing. She said the awards' ripple effects often extend beyond the winner, lifting sales of both the English and original editions and prompting other publishers to seek out works in the same language. “We’ve seen interest in that language and other work from that language so it tends to generate [interest],” Wood said, “but that’s also very encouraging to us.”

Li said multiple countries are already negotiating copyrights to “Taiwan Travelogue” in various languages, and that the author-translator prize split has prompted Taiwan to rethink how it recognizes and compensates translators. Li said, “The biggest inspiration the International Booker Prize gives us is respect for translation,” noting that translators should be treated as co-creators. 

The discussion turned to the Children’s Booker Prize, launching next year. Davies said a key decision after years of planning was to include child judges. Li pressed for details on selection and how children’s voices would be weighted alongside adults, then said Taiwan could quickly adopt a similar model for its picture-book awards, pairing child juries with book donations to schools and libraries to spur reading. 

At the close, Wood, also a photography artist, presented Li with a double-exposure black-and-white photo she shot on a 1950s camera, overlaying Yang and Lin’s portraits – “two heads, two minds” – making Li the first to receive the image. Wood said she has not yet visited Taiwan, but, after reading “Taiwan Travelogue,” is very keen to come.