Poland-based Taiwan writer and translator Lin Wei-yun was awarded Gloria Artis, Poland’s Medal for Merit to Culture, July 23.
Lin has for many years translated Polish literary works, including the poetry of Nobel Prize in Literature laureate Wislawa Szymborska. She has also introduced to the Polish people the works of Taiwan writers such as Wu Ming-yi.
The Polish Ministry of Culture began in 1969 to award the Gloria Artis Medal to foreign nationals. Lin is the first ROC citizen to receive the medal, and the first to receive any award from the Polish government.
Married to Polish citizen Pawel Gorecki, Lin has lived in Poland for eight years. Since 2007, she has translated Polish literary works including two books in Andrzej Sapkowski’s Witcher saga—“The Last Wish” and “Sword of Destiny”—as well as Bruno Schulz’s “The Street of Crocodiles.” She has also published essays in magazines and newspaper feature sections in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
As part of the 2011 Taipei Poetry Festival, Lin and Gorecki curated a shipping container book show on liberal literature. In 2012, they hosted a promotional event in conjunction with publication of the Chinese translation of “The Street of Crocodiles.”
Recently, Lin has translated poetry by Szymborska as well as by Tadeusz Rozewicz, scheduled for Taiwan publication this autumn.
Lin has introduced literature of Taiwan in Poland. At last year’s Wegajty drama festival, Lin presented the play “Three Islands,” adapted from Taiwan writer Wu Ming-yi’s novel “The Man with the Compound Eyes.” This year, with the assistance of ROC representative office in Poland, she made a presentation in Krakow introducing graphic arts and illustrated literature from Taiwan, titled “Poli-grafia Nowego Tajwanu.”
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