Taiwanese literature


Taiwanese literature refers to the literature written by Taiwanese in any language ever used in Taiwan, including Japanese, Taiwanese Han and Austronesian languages.

Novels, short stories, and poetry

Taiwan has a very active literary scene, with a large number of writers of novels and short stories enjoying a wide readership, many of them for many decades running. A short selection of prominent writers and poets includes:
See the full list of Taiwanese writers.
Similarly, there is a large poetry community in Taiwan, and there have been several anthologies of Taiwanese poetry in English translation.
Two areas of cross-pollination between literature and other arts in Taiwan include modern dance and filmmaking.
The 1990s saw the rise of a nativist Taiwan literature movement.

Literature relating to politics

With the establishment of the Communist regime in mainland China in 1949, books from mainland China were not often published in Taiwan and books from Taiwan were not often published in mainland China. In 1986, the first novel, Three Kings, written by a mainland Chinese writer, Ah Cheng, was openly published as such in Taiwan.
Some books from mainland China still found their way into Taiwan before 1986 by different ways. As pirate editions, under both a different title and a pseudonym for the author, under a different title, but with the author's name unchanged, under a pseudonym but with the title unchanged, or altered by changes in the text itself.

Popular kinds of books

Often books which have a movie based on them sell well in Taiwan. The Harry Potter series are popular and so is Bridget Jones's Diary. Some non-western popular books are The Hooligan Professor, 流氓教授, by Lin Jian-long 林建隆, and Big Hospital Small Doctor 大醫院小醫師, by Hou Wun-yong 侯文詠. Both were adapted for television. Other popular non-literary works included books on mastering English and attaining success.

Literary awards

The awards for Taiwanese literature include Taiwan Literature Award, Wu San-Lien Literary Award, Aboriginal Literature Award, and Min-Hakka Literary Award.

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