Ben & Don

Introduction

Born in 1993, she received the Chung Chao-cheng Literary Award, TSMC Literary Award, Youth Creative Award from the Ministry of Culture, and the National Culture and Arts Foundation Creative Literature Award. She is the author of the novel The Carnivorous Mound and the co-author of Stroll with the Scent of Hinoki – A Historical Trip to Chiayi and Sawmill . In addition to writing novels, Ben & Don is also interested in exploring the interesting trivias of Taiwan’s literature and history, and has published them in online columns such as “Story Studio,” “Humanity Island ,” and “NMTL Reculturation Team ,” and runs her own FB, IG, and YouTube channel “Ben & Don.”

Resident planning

Her residency project, Historical novel of Taiwanese in Japan – Death of Tequila , focuses on the Taiwanese students who were stranded in Japan during the early post-war period and portrays the active environment of freedom of expression they had, as reflected in the student newspapers and art magazines. Through the framework of a fictional novel, Death of Tequila takes on the perspective of a Taiwanese female student in Japan who wants to revive the magazine Tequila to bring out the turbulent situation faced by Taiwanese in Japan at that time, and how Taiwanese would make choices for their future amidst the turbulent times: Stay? Return to Taiwan? Or to the seemingly promising new China? She hopes to leverage the historical space of the Taiwan Literature Base to explore the historical situation of Taiwanese in Japan from 1945 to the 1950s, and to make use of the opportunity to communicate with the public during the residency period to let more people know the historical footprints of Taiwanese in Japan.