The English translation of "The Piano Tuner (尋琴者)," a novel written by award-winning Taiwanese author Kuo Chiang-Sheng (郭強生) and published by Arcade Publishing, officially hit the shelves on Jan. 3, with 14 other languages to be released successively.
The novel revolves around a bald, ugly piano tuner in his forties, who was once a musical prodigy. As the story progresses, a lifetime of secrets concealed by him will be revealed.
Hsu Pei-hsuan (許沛玹), a representative of the Taiwan Representative Office of the Andrew Nurnberg Associates who was the driving force behind the copyright of the global publication, said the first translated version was published in Mongolia last October. Following the release of the English version in the US, the French version will be launched in February, and the Korean version will be published in April. The Japanese version is scheduled to be published by Shinchosha Publishing Co, Ltd next year.
At a press conference on Jan. 6, Kuo stated that a piece of fine literature work always shows the true heart and feelings of the writer. His works never focus on any special topic, but are closely related to his personal life experience. Kuo said that the novel was inspired by his first love who "left" him in 1996 and this experience triggered feelings of loneliness, disillusionment, farewell, and death. After 26 years, he turned this unforgettable relationship into a novel.
Kou graduated from the Department of Foreign Language and Literature and earned a PhD in drama from New York University. He currently teaches in the Department of Language and Creative Writing at the National Taipei University of Education. The Piano Tuner was a bestseller and swept every major literary award in Taiwan, including the 2021 United Daily Literature Award, 2020 Taiwan Literature Golden Award, and 2020 Openbook Book of the Year Award as well as other honors.