A graphic novel about the White Terror era won a literature award in France on Thursday last week, the Ministry of Culture said.
Son of Formosa (來自清水的孩子) was awarded the graphic novel accolade at the seventh Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature at a ceremony in Paris.
The category was added this year, giving the Taiwanese novel the additional honor of winning the first award of its kind.
Photo: CNA
At the awards ceremony, the novel’s author, Yu Pei-yun (游珮芸), was joined by Taiwan Cultural Center in Paris Director Hu Ching-fang (胡晴舫), the ministry said.
Yu in her acceptance speech said that the reason for writing the biographical novel was not because its protagonist, late civil rights activist Tsai Kun-lin (蔡焜霖), was a political victim, but to tell the story of Tsai’s resilience after living a difficult life to a younger generation.
Yu said that younger Taiwanese have been born with freedom and democracy and are rarely aware of the turmoil older generations endured during the martial law era.
Focusing on an individual was the best way for readers, both foreign and domestic, to learn about Taiwan, the ministry said.
Son of Formosa was nominated for the award alongside Shuna’s Journey, a graphic novel by legendary Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, as well as Moms, written and illustrated by South Korean artist Ma Yeong-shin.
Son of Formosa was first published in 2020 by independent house Slowork Publishing, written by Yu and illustrated by Taiwanese artist Zhou Jian-xin (周見信).
The four-book graphic novel was published in Mandarin, Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese), Japanese and English, as they were the languages that Tsai, who passed away on Sept. 3 last year at the age of 92, spoke.
Since its release, the rights to Son of Formosa have been sold to Japanese, French, Arabic, German, South Korean, Italian and English-language publishers.
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