Los angeles: Taiwanese-American Lin King has garnered significant recognition from the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA) with two nominations for her translation of "Taiwan Travelogue", as announced by the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles.

According to Focus Taiwan, King has been shortlisted for the First Translation Prize and longlisted for the National Translation Awards for her rendition of the novel by Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi. The Taiwan Academy, which operates as an overseas branch of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture, is dedicated to promoting Taiwanese cultural endeavors.

In a statement published on ALTA's website, the judges for the First Translation Prize praised "Taiwan Travelogue" as a "complex, multivocal meditation on language, power, and queer desire." They highlighted the novel's intricate narrative, describing it as a "dazzling meta-novel" that presents a fictional translation within a translation. The story unfolds as a memoir by a Japanese writer in 1930s colonial Taiwan, originally composed in Mandarin Chinese, and subsequently rendered into English by Lin King.

The judges commended King's ability to adeptly navigate the novel's shifting linguistic and historical contexts, maintaining its layered complexity. They noted how she successfully translated the novel's "sensuous prose and intellectual play into English," praising the translation as a rare and remarkable accomplishment that reflects on its own nature as a translation.

Should King secure the National Translation Award, she will receive US$4,000. Additionally, she will share an extra US$3,000 with her editor if she triumphs in the First Translation Prize category. The winners of these prestigious awards are set to be announced on Nov. 6.

King, along with Yang, gained nationwide fame in Taiwan after winning the National Book Award for Translated Literature in the United States last November, marking them as the first Taiwanese nationals to achieve this distinction.