Winners of the 2018 Taipei International Book Exhibition Prize, an honor given to outstanding original books and editors from Taiwan, were announced on Jan. 8.
This year, the TIBE Book Prize received a total of 551 submissions, 101 of which were in the fiction category, 209 in non-fiction, 102 in self-publishing/editing, and 58 in traditional publishing/editing.
The submissions point to more young writers participating in fiction writing. The editing prizes, which were only added last year, also demonstrate the endless possibilities waiting to be discovered in Taiwan's publishing industry.
Winners of 2018 TIBE Book Prize:
Fiction
- Jin Yu-cheng (金宇澄), "Jin Yu-cheng's Select Stories: Chillness, Square Island, Bowl (金宇澄作品選輯：輕寒、方島、碗)”
- Huang Chong-kai (黃崇凱), "The Contents of the Times (文藝春秋)”
- Zhou Fen-ling (周芬伶), "Women of Hualien and Taitung (花東婦好)”
Non-fiction
Self-publishing/Editing
- Wang Fan (王梵), Zhuang Rui-lin (莊瑞琳), "Between Tectonic Plates: Geoparks in Taiwan (億萬年尺度的臺灣：從地質公園追出島嶼身世)”
Traditional Publishing/Editing
- Jia Shi-qiang (嘉世強), Zheng Ya-jing (鄭雅菁), Zhang Wei-ting (張瑋庭), "The Tsar of Love and Techno (我們一無所有),” "The Narrow Road to the Deep North (行過地獄之路),” "All the Light We Cannot See (呼喚奇蹟的光)”
The Ministry of Culture noted that the TIBE Book Prize has become an important benchmark in the Chinese-language literary scene. Launched in 2008, it encourages the creation of Chinese-language content and promotes reading in collaboration with writers and publishers. It also assists with licensing deals and the introduction of Chinese-language books to foreign readers.
The winning authors and editors will each receive a cash prize of NT$100,000 and a trophy at the opening ceremony of the 26th Taipei International Book Exhibition on Feb. 6.
The finalists and shortlisted books will be promoted through the "City is Reading” fringe series and "Books on the Move” truck-based flash mobs that will take place in Taipei, New Taipei City, and Keelung.
Additional award-winning TIBE sections, along with winning books of the 14th Golden Butterfly Award, will be curated by Eslite Bookstore for its branches in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung from Jan. 15 through Feb. 12.