Read First Book Club@Manchester : Taiwan Travelogue

Read First Bookshop, a Hongkongers' community bookshop, is launching its first book club in English on Taiwan Travelogue 臺灣漫遊錄 International Booker Prize 2026 winner, Taiwan Travelogue《臺灣漫遊錄》 , is the first novel translated from Chinese to receive the award. Written by Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi (楊双子) and translated by Lin King (金翎), the novel explores themes of colonialism, resistance and romantic friendship between women through a rich tapestry of food and culture at the core of the Taiwanese identity. Set in 1930s Japanese Taiwan, the novel is framed as an auto-fictional travelogue by female Japanese writer Aoyama Chizuko on her visit to colonial Taiwan, where she develops a relationship with her Taiwanese translator Ō Chizuru, as the two travel around the island sampling Taiwan’s rich cuisine while navigating the power dynamics between the coloniser and the colonised. In this bookclub, we will highlight selected passages in both English and Chinese, and discuss the themes of the novel, differences between the two versions and the nuances of translation. Whether you are a lover of Taiwanese culture, a fan of food in literature or just stumbled upon this novel, this is an open space to connect with readers from diverse cultural backgrounds and we’d love to hear what you think.