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Taiwan author to join Canada’s oldest festival of words and ideas

  • Date:2019-10-24~2019-11-05
Taiwan author to join Canada’s oldest festival of words and ideas

Taiwan author Horace Ho (何致和), whose latest translated English release "The Tree Fort on Carnation Lane (花街樹屋)" has been garnering critical reviews, will join the 2019 Toronto International Festival of Authors that is taking place at Harbourfront Centre from Oct. 24 through Nov. 3.

 

Born in Taipei in 1967, Ho earned his MFA degree in creative writing from National Dong Hwa University. In 2002, he published his first book "The Night When the Night was Lost (失去夜的那一夜)," presenting a collection of short stories. Hwang Chun-ming (黃春明), one of Taiwan's best-regarded writers, gave it an exceptionally positive review.

 

Ho's first novel, "The Melancholy of the White City (白色城市的憂鬱)," was a finalist for The China Times' Book of the Year title and earned him the reputation as one of the country's most promising writers.

 

Then came his 2008 novel, "The Offshore Island Bible (外島書)," which is now considered an essential read for all young men about to embark on their compulsory military service. Packaged as a contemporary Taiwanese bildungsroman, as one man's bible through everyman's struggles, a second printing was issued after ten days, breaking all sales records for Mandarin-language novels in Taiwan.

 

Paralleling his writing career, Ho also works as a literary translator. He has published many translated books, including Don Delillo's "White Noise," which sold 500 copies in one day on books.com, Taiwan's biggest online store.

 

Ho will join acclaimed Norwegian poet and novelist Rune Christiansen and Newfoundland author and award-winning poet Michael Crummey on Oct. 31 for a Toronto forum oriented at tackling the difficult themes of grief and loss in childhood