Literary works of Hakka writer Li Qiao to be translated into multiple languages

To raise Taiwanese Hakka literature’s profile in the international community, the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) is planning to publish the representative works of Hakka literary giant Li Qiao (李喬) in different languages, including Czech, English, and Spanish. It is anticipated that Li’s literary pieces will be available as early as next June for readers at home and abroad.

Li Qiao

(Photo: CNA)

Li made an important contribution to the development of Taiwanese literature. His novels are noted for the “unbending spirit of resistance,” mostly depicting the lives of people in the lower social strata and speaking for the underprivileged.

Thanking HAC for its supports, Li Shu-chin (李舒琴) of Taiwan Li Qiao Literary Association (臺灣李喬文學協會) said that the Council has already published Li’s novel “The Spring of Lan Caixia (藍彩霞的春天)” in Japanese and Spanish. The novel’s translations created a sensation in the literary world of Japan and Spain, she said, adding that the news that Li’s other works, including novellas and novels, will be translated into multiple languages truly delighted her.

The Spanish translation of Li’s novel “The Spring of Lan Caixia'

The Spanish translation of Li’s novel “The Spring of Lan Caixia'

Tu Miao-yi (凃妙沂), the project director for the Taiwan Interminds Publishing’s Hakka Literature Translation and Overseas Promotion Program, said that the Spanish version of “Selected Short Stories of Li Qiao” and the English translation of Li’s classic novel trilogy “Wintry Night (寒夜)” will be on sale in Ecuador and the United States, respectively. Expecting that the Czech translation of Li’s work will be nominated for the Franz Kafka Prize, one of the prestigious international literary awards, Tu also hopes that Li Qiao will ultimately be one of the nominees of the Nobel Prize for Literature.

However, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature is extremely challenging, as translator and writer C. J Anderson-Wu (吳介禎) pointed out. To help Li Qiao, a non-Western language writer, to be recognized by the world renowned literary award, it must be through massive translations of his works and his own English website to raise Li’s international profile to seek a nomination from qualified nominators, said Anderson-Wu.

Anderson-Wu said that the International Booker Prize hosted in the United Kingdom is the main channel for literary authorities to get to know writers from different countries, as well as one of the good ways for Li Qiao to make himself known around the world. So far, several Booker Prize winners have been awarded the Nobel Prize, she added.

She also suggested that Li’s translated works could be submitted to the Three Percent, a project launched by University of Rochester that pays attention to the best translation works from around the world.