Penned by Migrant Workers Exchange Project

A long-time champion of writings by new immigrants and migrant workers, the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants has been a partner of The Cultural Taiwan Foundation for years. In 2019, the Award launched an exchange project as an extension to the award and hosted lectures in Northern, Central, and Southern Taiwan to offer readers in-depth perspectives.

First held in 2014, the Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants champions and encourages literary works spotlighting new immigrants and migrant workers. Throughout the years, participating writers have told stories on such diverse topics as being foreigners in a strange land, having two homelands, and multi-lineages. They speak up for different minorities and enrich the literary landscape of Taiwan. In 2019, the Literature Award launched an exchange project as an extension to the award and hosted three lectures to offer more diverse insight into the following award-winning works: “Slaves of the Ocean: The Blood, Tears & Silver Linings of a Migrant Worker at Sea”, “Broken Bottles in Formosa: The Great Escape of Migrant Workers”, and “Fractured Marriage: The Story of Mail-Order Brides” at Brilliant Time: Southeast Asia Bookstore (Taipei), SEAT (Taichung), and the Eslite Spectrum Pingtung Store, respectively. The respective presenters were Li Lihua (Secretary- General, Yilan Migrant Fishermen Union) & Ho Weiwei (Publisher, The Migrant’s News Paper), Zeng Wenzhen (Director)& Annie Kuan(Co-founder of 1095 Culture Studio), and Ku Yu-ling (Author & Activist) & Trần Thị Huế (Vietnamese Immigrant & Winner of the 2019 Taiwan Literature Award for Migrants). The speakers aimed to explore the writers’ literary expressions and take an in- depth look into the possibilities for real-life social reforms.