About this ebook
Tâigael is a first-of-its-kind collaborative writing and translation project, bringing together writers from Scotland and Taiwan, to explore language, translation and culture. These four stories by Elissa Hunter-Dorans (Scotland), Kiú-kiong 玖芎 (Taiwan), Lisa MacDonald (Scotland) and Naomi Sím (Taiwan) cross between languages and cultures to speak of things unspoken, and to find new and surprising connections.
Taiwanese (Tâi-gí) and Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) are languages that have been historically marginalised and suppressed. Taigael presents two newly commissioned short stories in Gaelic, and two in Taiwanese, or Tâi-gí (in both 漢字 and Pe̍h-ōe-jī). And then it translates these stories between the two languages, via Mandarin (Traditional) and English. Each story is published in all four languages, to allow the largest possible audience.
Praise for Tâigael
"Four thoughtful and thought-provoking stories in conversation across languages and cultures - how exciting, and how necessary! This marvellous anthology, full of grace and wit, shows how writers and indeed whole literatures thrive when in contact with other voices." — Garry MacKenzie, author of Scotland: a Literary Guide for Travellers and Ben Dorain: a conversation with a mountain
“I am grateful for the publication of this book. A mother tongue is the root of culture, and a culture that loses its mother tongue is like a plant without roots. This book will greatly inspire the promotion of language equality and literary translation.” — Li Yuan (Taiwan) 李遠, screenwriter and Taiwan Minister for Culture | — 台灣文化部長、作家李遠（小野）
“In this imaginative and profoundly original book, two seemingly distant worlds—Gaelic Scotland and Taiwanese communities—are brought into resonant dialogue through their suppressed languages, enduring myths, and local beliefs. By placing Gaelic and Taiwanese side by side, the book creates a striking intimacy with the daily lives that preserve them. Both Scotland and Taiwan, small democracies with rich and complex histories, emerge here as sites of cultural resilience and deep-rooted memory. Beautifully translated across four languages, these evocative and subtle stories show, as editors Hannah Stevens and Will Buckingham put it, ‘what it means to seek out connections that might bind us more closely.’” — Michelle Kuo (Taiwan), author of Reading With Patrick
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About the author
Will Buckingham (白忠修) is a writer, philosopher and translator from the UK, currently based in Taiwan. Along with Hannah Stevens, he co-directs Wind&Bones Books. Will has a PhD in philosophy, and he writes fiction, nonfiction and for children. His most recent book is Hello, Stranger: How We Find Connection in a Divided World (Granta 2022), which was a BBC Radio4 Book of the Week. He, too, has been writer in residence at the Sofia Literature and Translation House in Bulgaria, and at the Taiwan Literature Base.
Hannah Stevens (溫婷誼) is a writer from the UK, currently based in Taiwan. She is co-director of Wind&Bones Books. Hannah has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Leicester, and her first short story collection, In their Absence was published in 2021. She is currently working on her next collection, On the Bodies of Strangers, for which she was shortlisted for the W&A Working Class Writers’ Prize 2022. Hannah has been writer in residence at the Sofia Literature and Translation House, Bulgaria, and also at the Taiwan Literature Base.
Naomi Sím (沈宛瑩) is a Taiwanese writer with a background in communication design. She is a two-time recipient of the Tâi-gí Literature Award for short stories. Her work explores themes of identity and culture, and uses humour and satire to examine deeper societal issues.
Elissa Hunter-Dorans is a writer and artist from the Highlands, writing in Gaelic and English. She was the Scottish Poetry Library’s first Next Generation Young Makar for Gaelic poetry, and she has performed at the Dandelion Festival, StAnza, and The Edinburgh Fringe. Elissa was recently awarded the Julia Budenz Commemorative Prize for Gaelic poetry. She is president of Edinburgh University’s Folk and Traditional Music Society, where she is currently studying History of Art, and has a fascination with religious and folk visual culture.
Kiú-kiong (玖芎) is author of the essay collection I Buried Myself under the Earth (我把自己埋進土裡), and in 2023 was writer-in-residence at the Taiwan Literature Base. She has an MA from the Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature and Transnational Cultural Studies at National Chung Hsing University. Her primary writing language is Tâi-gí. She believes that one’s mother tongue is not only the voice of one’s mother, but is also the voice of one’s homeland.
Lisa MacDonald (Lisa NicDhòmhnaill) is an educator and a writer. She is also a parent, a singer and a PhD student. She lives in a small, rural community in the Highlands of Scotland, where the beauty of the landscapes belies centuries of social upheaval. Her deep investment in place and community takes many forms, and she draws strength from connections and shared concern. Her poetry, short stories and essays have been widely published, and her work has been recognised with awards and prizes. Her collection Mnathan na Còigich | The Women of Coigach was published in 2022, and one of the poems was selected to feature among the Best Scottish Poems by the Scottish Poetry Library.
Shengchi Hsu (許勝吉) is an English-Chinese translator. After over two decades living and working in the UK, he now lives and teaches in Taichung, Taiwan. His translations cover prose and poetry, including “A Daughter” by Lin You-hsuan, “Violet” by Hsu Yu-cheng, “Cage” by Qiu Miao-jin, and eight classical Taiwanese Han poems in the PN Review.
