Wu Ming-yi (Chinese: 吳明益; born 20 June 1971) is a multidisciplinary Taiwanese artist, author, Professor of Sinophone literature at National Dong Hwa University and environmental activist. His ecological parable The Man with the Compound Eyes (2011) was published in English in 2013, and was awarded "The Best Chinese Fiction Books of the Last Century" on Time Out Beijing in 2015.
Wu Ming-yi
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| Born | 20 June 1971 Taoyuan, Taiwan (now Taoyuan District, Taoyuan City) |
| Occupation | Author, Scholar |
| Nationality | Taiwanese |
| Alma mater | National Central University Fu Jen Catholic University |
| Notable works | The Man with the Compound Eyes (2011) The Stolen Bicycle (2015) |
| Notable awards | Dream of the Red Chamber Award final candidate (2016) Man Booker International Prize nomination (2018) |
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| Traditional Chinese | 吳明益 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 吳明益 | ||||||
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Wu was born in 1971 in Taoyuan, Taiwan (now Taoyuan District, Taoyuan). He holds a BA in marketing from Fu Jen Catholic University and a PhD in Chinese Literature from National Central University. He published his first novel in 1997.
In 2000, he began his career as Assistant Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at NDHU College of Humanities and Social Sciences and taught Chinese literature, creative writing, Mandopop, and nature writing courses. He was promoted to Associate Professor of Sinophone Literature in 2010 and become Professor of Sinophone Literature in 2012 respectively, through publications of his extraordinary creative writing works.[1][2]
He received many notable awards and recognizes, including the first Taiwanese nominee of Man Booker International Prize (2018), nominee of Émile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature (2018), and "The Best Chinese Fiction Books of the Last Century" on Time Out Beijing (2015).[3]
Wu is known for writing environmental literature.[4] He is the author of several literary works, including collections of essays, short stories and novels. He is considered one of the major Taiwanese writers of his generation with writings translated into English, French, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Czech and Indonesian.[5] In Chinese, he is especially well known for his non-fiction books on butterflies, The Book of Lost Butterflies (2000) and The Dao of Butterflies (2003), which he also designed and illustrated.[6]
InThe Man with the Compound Eyes, an ecological parable or eco-fantasy,[7] he tells the story of a young Pacific islander, Atelie (Atile'i in the English translation), from the fictitious island of Wayo Wayo (suggesting Bora Bora) who arrives on the East Coast of Taiwan when the 'trash vortex', a floating mountain of trash which has formed out of the Great Pacific Trash Vortex, collides with the island. The book has been described as "a masterpiece of environmental literature about an apocalyptic aboriginal encounter with modernity...Trash, resource shortages, and the destruction of Taiwan's coastline as a result of the pursuit of unenlightened self-interest are unremarkable raw materials, but [Wu Mingyi] mashes them into art."[4] His literature agent described it as a "Taiwanese Life of Pi".[7]
His 2015 book The Stolen Bicycle has been described as a study of bicycles in Taiwan during World War II.[8] An English translation was published in 2017,[9] and in March 2018 the book was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize. It became the center of a diplomatic dispute when, after pressure from the People's Republic of China, the awards organizer changed his nationality from Taiwan to "Taiwan, China".[10] In April 2018, the Man Booker International Prize made the final call stating that "Wu Ming-Yi is listed as ‘Taiwan’".[11]