On Translation, Writing, Elephants, and Stolen Bicycles

Abstract

In this generously given interview, author Wu Ming-Yi and translator Darryl Sterk sit down to give The Lyre a look into how a novel is born, and then translated. Wu is an award-winning novelist, as well as a literary professor, environmental activist, and artist—to name a few. Sterk has worked for the last half-dozen years with Wu, translating the author’s novels from Taiwanese to English. He has also recently been learning the Indigenous Taiwanese language Seediq. Together, the duo’s latest project titled The Stolen Bicycle is a novel to celebrate!