The 2023 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature (紐曼華語文學獎) award ceremony was held on March 3 at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum, located on the University of Oklahoma's campus. Sinophone novelist Chang Kuei-hsing (張貴興) was announced as the winner of the eighth Newman Prize and he was invited to receive the award in the United States. In his acceptance speech, he said that winning the Newman Prize means a lot; he thanked Taiwan, the judging panel, and the Newman family.
Chang shared his journey of being born in Borneo and then settling down in Taiwan. He stated that although most of the stories were set in Nanyang (Southeast Asia), it is the environment and support of Taiwan that keeps him going. In his closing remark, he called for more international literary awards to focus on Taiwanese literature.
On March 2, a symposium for the award winner on the topic "Chang Kuei-hsing and Sinophone Literature" was held. It featured Chang reading from his newly published novel "Eyelids of Morning (鱷眼晨曦)." E.K. Tan, Shu-mei Shih (史書美), and Carlos Rojas were invited as speakers.
Chang Kuei-hsing was born in 1956 in Sarawak, Borneo, and his work emerges out of the cultural, ethnic and political struggles of the Chinese community in Malaysia. He left Malaysia in 1976 for Taiwan to attend the National Taiwan Normal University and still resides in Taiwan.
The Newman Prize for Chinese Literature is the first major American award for Chinese literature. Sponsored by the University of Oklahoma Institute for US-China Issues in the David L. Boren College of International Studies, the Newman Prize is awarded biennially in recognition of outstanding achievement in prose or poetry that best captures the human condition.