The National Museum of Taiwan Literature held the ceremony for the 2020 Taiwan Literature Golden Award (臺灣文學金典獎) on Nov. 14 in New Taipei City, recognizing the diversity of the nation’s literary creations and bringing together veteran writers and emerging authors.
The grand prize of the Taiwan Literature Golden Award, one of the top literary honors in the nation, went to the novel "Ghost Town" (鬼地方) by Kevin Chen (陳思宏).
A novel exploring the theme of self-discovery, "Ghost Town" unfolds when members of a family embark on a homecoming journey to a small town in central Taiwan where freedom does not exist.
In his acceptance speech, Chen said he hopes the next generation of Taiwanese will no longer endure pains and hurts in the pursuit of freedom, neither will they shed tears for their sex and sexual orientation.
The Golden Awards, meanwhile, were granted to "The Memoir of A Piano (尋琴者)" by Kuo Chiang-sheng (郭強生), "Follow the Magic Wand (跟著寶貝兒走)" by Huang Chun-ming (黃春明), and "My Hikikomori Brother (滌這個不正常的人)" by Liao Mi (廖瞇).
"The Mountain I'd Share, With You" (我所告訴你關於那座山的一切) by Liu Chen-chun (劉宸君) and "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood Taiwan: The Life and Death of Taiwanese Hokkien Cinema (毋甘願的電影史：曾經，臺灣有個好萊塢)" by Su Chih-heng (蘇致亨) were also the recipients of the Golden Awards.
In addition, the "The Daylight Sheep (日光綿羊)" by Tsai Shian-zen (蔡翔任), "Human Glitches (瑕疵人型)" by Lin Hsin-hui (林新惠), and "Working Time (工作記事)" by Chen Chang-yuan (陳昌遠) were named the laureates of both the Golden Awards and the Best New Talent awards.
This year, the awards were changed to embrace an even wider range of categories; where previously the awards rotated between novels, prose, and new poetry, now all three will be represented every year, with one winner each in novel, prose, and new poetry categories for Taiwanese- and Hakka-language works and Mandarin-language works by indigenous writers.
Starting from Nov. 21, a series of literature-themed events will take place across Taiwan to shed light on the winning literary works, featuring Lin Hsin-hui, Kevin Chen, Tsai Shian-zen, and Liao Mi.
The Taiwan Literature Golden Award was established in 2005 by Tainan City-based National Museum of Taiwan Literature.