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Huang Han-yau
黃瀚嶢

Huang Han-Yau (⿈瀚嶢) loves to observe nature and thought he had to go to the mountains to experience it before he realized that the city is its own kind of wilderness. With the exception of a few places that he visits on a regular basis, he can’t remember the locations of almost any of the shops he’s been to, but he’s gradually drawn a map of the city that feels like it belongs to him. There are buried irrigation canals, disappearing courtyard houses with vegetable gardens, old city walls, treelined streets, formerly prosperous neighborhoods, old trees, ferns, birds’ nests, termite nests, and stray cats. Since then, he has been living inside that map and is constantly trying to re-draw those invisible paths and landmarks with words, illustrations, and commentary, so that his friends can travel there too. His narrative non-fiction book The Lost River won the Taiwan Literature Award in 2023.

Works

The Lost River
*2023 Openbook Award* *2023 Liang Shih-chiu Award in Prose* *2023 Taiwan Literature Award* *2024 The Best First Book Award by TSMC Foundation*   Every winter, rivers in southeastern Taiwan become blocked before reaching the sea, disappearing underground to form what geographers call "the lost river." The river lies on the Zhiben alluvial fan, forming what is commonly known as the Zhiben Wetland. In the Puyuma language, it is called "Muveneng," meaning "a place where water gathers." This wetland may appear barren and desolate at first glance, but the author, with a background in forestry, uses ecological surveys to demonstrate that the vast wetland actually teems with life. This effort is a resistance against corporations enclosing the land to install large-scale solar panels.   The "Anti-Zhiben Solar Energy" movement intertwines complex issues such as environmental justice, indigenous rights, and energy transition. Besides, the author outlines the wetland's encounters over hundreds of years and learns from the indigenous history and wisdom of the Katratripulr tribe. These introspective and reflective writings serve as a multi-species ethnography, shedding light on the conflicts and reconciliations between civilization and nature.  
Little Black Dots on the Fence
Rights Sold: simplified Chinese   In our everyday lives, we’re surrounded by creatures large and small, and if we look closely, we’ll see that their lives are full of surprises. This book features one of the most common species of ants in Taiwan (gray-black spiny ants) as the protagonist to bring readers into a world of fascinating creatures.    Have you ever seen an orderly row of black dots in the park, or on a fence or a pile of waste? Gray-black spiny ants are a species of ant commonly found in Taiwan who live all around us, so keep your eyes peeled as you make your way through this book and see how they cooperate with aphids and compete with other insects, as well as how they forage, work, and have families so their population multiplies over generations.   With the lifecycle of the ants serving as the main book’s main storyline, the authors use vivid language and scientific illustrations rendered in realistic brushstrokes to guide readers through the natural ecology of the gray-black spiny ants. They hope that by the end of the story, young readers will start to love and understand the natural world and respect all the tiny lives within it.    Size: 25.6 x 23.5 cm
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