The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles is collaborating with the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) to host the 2025 Emerging Translator Mentorships program. It has announced that Seattle-based translator Lya Schaffer, who is translating Chang Chuang-fen’s (張娟芬) book “Hooligan Wang Xin-fu (流氓王信福),” will be mentored by Lin King (金翎), a Taiwanese translator who won the U.S. National Book Awards for Translated Literature last year.
As a literary translator with roots in Taipei, Lya is committed to amplifying marginalized voices, particularly from Taiwan. Early observations of complex tensions straining across linguistic, sociocultural, political, and generational divides led Lya to study economics and international relations. Lya’s path toward literary translation grew from a private passion for Taiwanese poetry. She encountered Chang Chuang-fen and her book “Hooligan Wang Xin-fu” in a Taiwanese literature workshop in 2023, noticing the book’s significance in portraying miscarriages of justice faced by people from lower social classes.
Lin King, who will serve as Lya’s mentor, has received the PEN/Robert J. Dau Short Story Prize for Emerging Writers and is known for her translation of “The Boy From Clearwater (來自清水的孩子)” and “Taiwan Travelogue (臺灣漫遊錄).” Last November, she became the first Taiwanese translator to win the U.S. National Book Award with “Taiwan Travelogue.”
The Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles noted that it has collaborated with ALTA since 2020 to introduce emerging Taiwanese translators and their works to the U.S. Anticipating the release of Lya’s translation this fall, the Academy aims to continue showcasing the works of Taiwanese authors worldwide.