Taiwan Travelogue Wins The International Booker Prize 2026

Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and Lin King

Taiwan Travelogue has won the International Booker Prize 2026!

The £50,000 prize is split 50:50 between author Yáng Shuāng-zǐ and translator Lin King, giving each writer equal recognition.

Disguised as a translation of a rediscovered text by a Japanese writer, Taiwan Travelogue is a bittersweet story of love between two women, nested in an artful exploration of language, history and power.

Announcing the winner, Chair of the 2026 judges Natasha Brown said, ‘Taiwan Travelogue pulls off an incredible double feat: it succeeds as both a romance and an incisive postcolonial novel. As judges, we’ve enjoyed rich discussions about the many layers of this book. It’s a captivating, slyly sophisticated novel.’

Head here for more on the winning book, its author and translator.

The shortlisted titles are:

• The Nights Are Quiet in Tehran by Shida Bazyar, translated from German by Ruth Martin

• She Who Remainsby Rene Karabash, translated from Bulgarian by Izidora Angel

• The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated from German by Ross Benjamin

• On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated from Portuguese by Padma Viswanathan

• The Witch by Marie NDiaye, translated from French by Jordan Stump