Wu Ming-Yi is a multidisciplinary artist and author, as well as a Professor of Sinophone Literature at Dong Hwa University. He is best known for his environmental activism and his novels, which have been translated into various languages and garnered international attention.
Wu Ming-Yi was born in the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan in 1971, his early life was marked by Taiwan’s rapid economic development and growth of the country’s commercial sector. It is no wonder then that when studying at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City, he majored in Marketing.
He would continue his education with a PhD in Chinese Literature from National Central University, marking the start of a career in the subject for which he would become famous. At the turn of the millennium, he started teaching literature and creative writing at Dong Hwa University, where he would become an Assistant Professor of the Department of Chinese.
It was also in the year 2000 that he made literary debut, with the Book of Lost Butterflies, which would then be followed up in 2003 with The Dao of Butterflies. These books, the latter of which one the China Times’ Open Book Award, drew deeply from his lifelong interest in the titular creature and also kick-started his reputation as an eco-writer.
In 2006, Wu took a year-long sabbatical from his teaching position in order to pursue his writing, leading to So Much Water Close to Home and his debut novel, Routes in the Dream. He would soon return to teaching as he continued to write and do several of his other creative hobbies, including photography and painting.
It would be in 2011 that Wu Ming-Yi published one of his most well-known works, The Man With Compound Eyes, which would further elaborate on Wu’s concerns on the balance between humanity and the environment in the form of a magical fable. The work, which could also be considered as a piece of dystopian environmental fiction, also featured Taiwan’s history and culture prominently, and the country’s relationship to climate change. It would find praise from both critics and audiences in Taiwan and internationally, receiving an English translation.
Wu’s 2015 work, The Stolen Bicycle, met with similar acclaim. Focusing on a writer’s journey to find his father’s stolen bicycle, the book details an epic quest enmeshed with Taiwan’s Second World War history. Upon its release, it became one of the two recipients of the Best novel category of the 2015 Taiwan Literature Awards, and with its English translation in 2018, it became nominated for the Man Booker International Prize – making Wu Ming-Yi one of the most internationally celebrated contemporary Taiwanese authors.
Wu Ming-Yi has since continued to write, releasing novels in 2018 and 2019, whilst also remaining in his teaching position at Dong Hwa, ensuring that he continues to inspire his readers both through his writing and in the classroom.