Yang Shuang-zi

Yang Shuang-zi (; born Yang Jo-tzu; ; born 10 July 1984) is a Taiwanese writer. Her novel Taiwan Travelogue, translated into English by Lin King, won the 2024 National Book Award for Translated Literature and the 2026 International Booker Prize.

Name Yang was born "Yang Jo-tzu", the elder of twin sisters alongside Yang Jo-hui . Jo-tzu grew up interested in literature, while Jo-hui was more interested in history and translation. In 2014, the twins decided to collaborate on historical fiction under the shared pen name Yang Shuang-zi, meaning "twins", with Jo-hui primarily responsible for historical research and Jo-tzu for narrative and plot. Jo-hui was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer in 2009 and died in 2015. Jo-tzu continued writing under the pen name in her sister's memory. Jo-tzu attributed her sister's illness to years of chronic overwork dating back to their difficult upbringing.

Early life and education Yang and her twin sister were born in a military dependents' village in Wuri, Taichung, on 10 July 1984. After their parents divorced when they were five, their mother remarried; they lived with their father and grandparents. The sisters were primarily cared for by their illiterate grandmother and their father's girlfriend. From the age of fifteen, both sisters worked part-time to support themselves. Jo-tzu worked at a fried chicken cutlet shop and a bakery, and Jo-hui at an educational materials company.

Yang spent eight years in night school—three years in the business program at the vocational high school affiliated to Taichung Institute of Technology (now National Taichung University of Science and Technology), followed by five years in a continuing education bachelor's degree program in Chinese language and literature at National Chung Hsing University (NCHU). Throughout those eight years she worked during the day and wrote fiction. Her political identity shifted through two student movements. In 2008, shortly after her undergraduate graduation, the Wild Strawberry Movement occurred. During the demonstrations, Taiwanese police suppressed displays of the flag of the Republic of China, which unsettled Yang and motivated her to study Taiwanese literature in graduate school. In 2014, by which point she had leaned toward Taiwanese independence, the Sunflower Student Movement, sparked by the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA), made Yang realize that "Taiwan has been facing threats from China" and motivated her to "write something for Taiwan from a perspective only I can see."

Career From around the age of ten, amid the 1990s wave of Taiwanese comics, Yang intended to become a manga artist. When the local comics industry contracted before it could fully develop, she pivoted at fourteen to writing fiction instead. She began her career as a genre writer in the vein of local popular romance fiction, submitting widely before her first romance novel, Aiqing Dahunzhan , was published in early 2003 when she was nineteen. In 2005, after publishing four romance novels, she received two consecutive rejections and withdrew to reassess, shifting toward literary fiction and became known for her historical yuri fiction. Yang, with her sister, has also been active in ACG subculture as both a fan and a creator. In 2009, the sisters co-founded a doujinshi society Mao Pin and jointly published a doujinshi based on Maria Watches Over Us (Marimite).

Taiwan Travelogue

Personal life Yang is married to Lai Ting-ho (Rose), a fashion influencer and writer.

Books Taiwan Travelogue A Foodie's Guide to Old Taichung Nº. 1, Siwei Street