Lin King alleges copyright infringement over relay translation of Taiwan Travelogue

Translator and writer Lin King released a statement on Instagram alleging copyright infringement of her English translation of Taiwan Travelogue, Literary Hub and Rti reported. King stated that she discovered an unnamed European publisher was preparing to release an unauthorized version translated from her English edition rather than the original Mandarin text. [1][2]

The practice of translating a work into a third language by using an existing translation rather than the original source text is known as relay translation. King stated that this planned release constituted an unauthorized use of her award-winning translation, according to Literary Hub. [1]

Taiwan Travelogue was written by Taiwanese author Yang Shuang-zi and originally published in Mandarin in Taiwan in 2020. The novel portrays the 1938 journey of a fictional Japanese writer, Aoyama Chizuko, through colonial Taiwan alongside her Taiwanese interpreter, Wang Qianhe. King translated the book into English, winning the National Book Award for Translated Literature in 2024 and the International Booker Prize in 2026. [1][3][4][5]