Taipei, Oct. 31 (CNA) The National Museum of Taiwan Literature revealed the winners of the Taiwan Literature Awards (TLA) for Books on Monday, with the top prize going to “The Book of Wreckage” (殘骸書) by Chen Lieh (陳列).
Chen’s prose book was awarded the 2023 TLA Annual Golden Grand Laurel Award along with NT$1 million (US$30,842) prize money after it defeated 190 other submissions, the museum that organized the annual award said in a statement.
Chen subtly and deftly depicted the suffering and humiliation which has been mostly buried while invoking memories and reflection of the White Terror era, by using “plain and complex language to revisit history and his personal experiences,” the statement said.
Chen was sentenced to jail in 1972 for political crimes and spent four years and eight months behind bars.
The book won the support of the majority of judges, who touted Chen’s work as “not only bearing witness to an era but also set to stun readers from future generations.”
Following “The Book of Wreckage,” seven other works were awarded the TLA Golden Book Award, including “Bullets are the Remaining Life” (子彈是餘生) by Tsao Sheng-hao (曹盛濠, or “寺偉哲也” for his pen name), “The Lost River” (沒口之河) by Huang Han-yau (黃瀚嶢), and “Late Night Patrol of the Abandoned God” (夜觀巡場Iā-Kuan Sûn-Tiûnn) by Tiunn Ka-siông (張嘉祥).
The other winners of the Golden Book Award were “Brother” (弟弟) by Chan Wai-yee (陳偉儀, or “陳慧” for her pen name), “Here’s to Us, Bottoms Up” (我隨意,你盡量) by Ông Chiau-hôa (王昭華), “Mooyi” (魔以) by Chen Shu-yao (陳淑瑤) and “Eyelids of Morning” (鱷眼晨曦) by Zhang Guixing (張貴興).
Each of the winners of the Golden Book Award will receive NT$150,000 in prize money, and Tsao, Huang and Tiunn will get an additional NT$150,000 for being awarded the TLA New Bud Award, which is presented to writers who have not published a book before.
This is the first time all three winners of that award were also recipients of the Golden Book Award, Chao Ching-hua (趙慶華), a literature museum staffer in charge of the awards told CNA on Tuesday.
The judging panel was quoted as saying that based on the works submitted this year, Taiwanese books appear to be mainly focusing on themes including national history, coming of age and social movements. It added the fact that three of the Golden Book Award winners were also awarded the New Bud Award suggested the emergence of new talent.
In addition, the panel noted the influence of subcultures like anime, comics and games on writers from the younger generation, which it said has influenced their imaginations and brought pleasure to readers, while also being critical of reality.
The award ceremony will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 11 at Huashan 1914 Creative Park with a live stream on the Taiwan Literature Awards for Books (臺灣文學獎Online2023) Facebook page.