With the support of Taipei Cultural Center in New York, Taiwanese writer Chi Ta-wei (紀大偉) has been invited to participate in the 2022 Toronto International Festival of Authors (TIFA), which will be held from Sep. 22 to Oct. 2.
On Sep. 30, Chi will share his commissioned short story in an event under the pandemic-related theme "We come back together, only to fall apart." The short story will later be published digitally in English alongside 10 other writers from around the world who have produced stories under the same theme. In addition, Chi will take part in a discussion about his novel "The Membranes (膜)" on Oct. 1.
The story of "The Membranes," a classic queer fiction, takes place during the late 21st century in a high-tech future city, where human beings have migrated to domes beneath the sea and the concept of "gender" is meaningless because the body and brain are separated. The intriguing novel portrays a young woman's quest for self-understanding while exploring gender and sexuality, technological domination, and capitalism. The fiction, originally published in Chinese in 1995, has now been translated to English 25 years later by Ari Larissa Heinrich and published by Columbia University Press in 2021.
Chi Ta-wei is a renowned writer and scholar from Taiwan and currently serves as an associate professor of Taiwanese literature at National Chengchi University. Chi’s scholarly work focuses on LGBT studies, disability studies, and Sinophone literary history, while his award-winning creative writing ranges from science fiction to queer short stories.
Founded in 1974, TIFA is Canada's largest and longest-running literary festival, providing the world’s leading contemporary authors with an internationally recognized forum to present their work.
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