Luo Yijun
Quick Facts
Biography
Luo Yijun (Chinese: 駱以軍; pinyin: Luò Yǐjūn; born 29 March 1967) is a Taiwanese writer.
Biography
Luo attended Chinese Culture University, where he studied Chinese literature under authors such as Zhang Dachun, who influenced his early style; he later earned a master's degree in theater from Taipei National University of the Arts. His works include fiction, poetry, essays, and literary criticism. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the China Times Literature Award and the 10th United Daily News Literature Prize. In 2007, he was a visiting writer at the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Themes and Style
The only child of mainland Chinese immigrants who fled the Kuomintang, Luo has attributed the themes of alienation and migration in novels such as Tangut Inn, which combines science fiction with characteristics of postmodern literature, or the quasi-autobiographical vignettes that comprise We, to his own experience of cultural outsiderness growing up in Taiwan. His style has been described by David Der-wei Wang as "pseudo-autobiographical intimate narratives constituting a relay race of fragments, filled with uncanny and decadent imagery and undergirded by an immoral worldview".
Legacy and Impact
Luo's essay collection My Little Boys (小兒子) has been adapted into a play by Huang Zhi-kai of the theater troupe Story Works (故事工廠).
Luo's Tangut Inn has been adapted into a play by Wei Ing-chuan (魏瑛娟).
Xu Rong-zhe (許榮哲), Taiwanese author of the novel 迷藏 (Mi-Cang), once said that he was influenced by Luo Yijun and Taiwanese author Yuan Zhe-sheng (袁哲生).
Awards and Honors
YEAR | WORKS | AWARDS | HOST | RANK |
---|---|---|---|---|
1988 | "Red Character Group" | The UNITAS Taiwan Islandwide Literature Camp Award for Best Story | United Literature | Fiction Award |
1989 | "Roach" | National Students’ Literature Award | Mingdao Literature | Recommendation Prize |
1990 | "A Roll of Film" | The UNITAS Literature Award for New Writers | United Literature | Honorable Prize |
1991 | "Toy Gun King" | China Times Literature Award | China Times | Audition Prize |
1993 | Red Character Group | 10 Best Books of the Year by the Book and Literature Section “The Book Lovers” | United Daily News | |
1993 | "Born Into the Twelfth Sign" | Collected Short Stories 1993 | ErYa Publishing House, Yizhi Chen Edition | |
1998 | "Elegy" | Collected Short Stories 1998 | China Times | |
1999 | The Third Dancer | 10 Best Books of the Year and Literature Section “Opening Books” | China Times | |
2000 | Family of the Moon | 10 Best Books of the Year Chiu Ko Novel of the Year Award | Jiu ge Publisher | Taipei Literature Year Award |
2000 | "Five Stories of Jetlag" | Third Taipei Literature Award | Taipei Cultural Bureau | |
2008 | Tangut Inn | Asian Magazine of Ten Chinese Good Books of Novel | Asian Magazine | |
2009 | Tangut Inn | Taiwan Literature Award | National Taiwan Literature Museum | Golden Long Novel Prize |
2010 | Tangut Inn | The 3rd Dream of the Red Chamber Award | Hong Kong Jinhui University of Literature Department | 1st Prize |
2014 | Daughter | The Year of the Chinese Best Books and Literature Section “Opening Books” | China Times | |
2014 | Daughter | Taipei International Ten Best Books Award of Asian Magazine | Asian Magazine | |
2015 | Daughter | Taipei International Book Exhibition Nobel Prize in Literature | Taipei International Book Exhibition | |
2018 | Alphabets A-F | Fifth Literary Great of United Daily News award | United Daily News |