Chen Xue

Chen Xue (; born 1970) is a Taiwanese writer. She is the author of (; ), a collection of short stories published in 1995 that has become considered a classic of tongzhi literature recognising the lives of Taiwanese LGBTQ+ communities.

Biography Born Chen Yaling (陳雅玲) in 1970 in Taichung, she was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in Chinese from National Central University in 1993. Her first book was published in 1995. It is Enü shu (Chinese: 惡女書; lit. "Book of a Demon"), a collection of four short stories, the best known of which is Xunzhao tianshi de chibang (尋找天使遺失的翅膀, "In Search of the Lost Wings of Angels"), which has become a classic of tongzhi literature. Her story Venus is written from a transgender perspective.

A lesbian, Chen is also famous for kissing her partner on the cover of the queer magazine LEZS. She is also a human rights activist, speaking on LGBTQ+ rights in Taiwan.

Awards and recognition Chen is a novelist, as well as a short story writer and her 2009 work The Possessed was nominated for multiple literary awards in Taiwan. The plot centres on a love affair between a teenage girl and a married woman.

Reception With Chi Ta-wei, Lucifer Hung and Qiu Miaojin, her work is viewed as that of a “new generation of queer authors” from Taiwan. Many works address themes of family and parenthood, as well as home and exile.

Selected works

Enü shu (惡女書, “Book of a Demon”), 1995 Fatherless City (無父之城), 2019