A Taiwanese Ecoliterature Reader

An Indigenous hunter laments the decline in the flying squirrel population and reflects on how animals perceive the world. In a drought-stricken cyberpunk anytown, kids revolt against the grown-ups only to face off with stray dogs over water. During late-night diving sessions, a researcher encounters a mysterious group of ocean-dwelling people with gills. In an overpopulated future, marrying an AI spouse will raise a human’s credit score. A man follows the trail of an extinct leopard, seeking to unravel a metafictional mystery left behind by his late wife.

This anthology showcases cutting-edge works on ecological themes by essential and emerging Taiwanese authors, revealing the vitality of their engagements with environmental crises. Taiwan is a biodiversity hotspot and geopolitical flashpoint, home to both Indigenous peoples and settlers. The pieces collected in A Taiwanese Ecoliterature Reader give voice to this human and more-than-human diversity, telling tales that are disturbing yet hopeful, serious yet sensuous, speculative yet grounded, down to earth yet spanning the seas. They span Indigenous eco-writing, oceanic hybrid narratives, ecological sci-fi, and speculative Indigenous fiction. Together, these stories navigate the landscapes of Taiwanese ecoliterature, illuminating its past and pointing toward its future.

Ian Rowen is an associate professor in the Institute for Advanced Study at Kyushu University. His books include Transitions in Taiwan: Stories of the White Terror (2021).

Ti-han Chang is a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Asia Pacific at the University of Central Lancashire. Her books include Reorienting Taiwan: Ocean, Selfhood, and the Pacific (2025).

Darryl Sterk is an associate professor of translation at Lingnan University. He has translated works by a number of Taiwanese writers, including Syaman Rapongan’s Eyes of the Ocean (Columbia, 2025).