From left, authors Shi Wu; Nownow; and Kevin Chen (Image: Mirror Fiction) are scheduled to be at Frankfurter Buchmesse 2025 as part of the Taiwan Creative Content Agency’s exploration of Taiwan’s fantasy and folklore. Image: TAICCA
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Taiwan’s Unique Fantasy Traditions: Close, Personal, Real
These days, when people hear about fantasy and folklore—especially book publishing people who are surrounded by “romantasy” and a laundry list of subgenres—it can be surprising how unique this sector of fiction can be.
The Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA, pronounced “TIKE-ah”), however, would like to introduce you at Frankfurt this year to Taiwan’s own brand of fantasy. It draws its distinctive contours from a nearness to both the folk and the lore of this island culture.
Some of the key components have to do with Taiwan’s natural environment of soaring, forested mountains, plunging valleys, rolling seas, and urban centers—a land as diverse as the population’s multicultural, multi-ethnic society.
And to introduce this to Buchmesse’s trade visitors, TAICCA has enlisted one of Frankfurt’s most familiar faces. The prolific international rights specialist Gray Tan—he of the 17-year-old Grayhawk Agency—may just surprise you when you hear him say something about the “ghosts and gods among us.”
Gray Tan
Say what, Gray?
It turns out that nobody is more pleased than the literary agent and rights ace Gray Tan, who tells Publishing Perspectives that he’s “very excited to talk about this subject, as fantasy is my favorite genre. I grew up a fantasy nerd—RPGs (role-playing games), and then novels. Prior to becoming an agent, I was the translator of A Game of Thrones and The Once and Future King.”
And Tan is fully up to the task of explaining the special form of fantasy you’re about to encounter at TAICCA’s Stand D55 in Halle 6.0.
As an early example of Taiwanese fantasy, TAICCA refers to Wu Ming-Yi’s 2011 release, The Man With Compound Eyes. It becomes clear why TAICCA’s team mentions that book as having introduced Taiwan’s fantasy to mainstream international markets when Tan tells you that his agency sold the title into 17 territories. “We sold it as literary fiction, Tan says, “although it does contain strong sci-fi and fantastic elements, and Wu once had a talk with Hugh Howey. The book even received a blurb from Ursula K. Le Guin.”
On Frankfurt Saturday (October 18), two 60-minute programs will be offered by the Taiwan team on the topic of fantasy, both set on the International Stage in the foyer between Halls 5.1 and 6.1.
- At 12 p.m. on Frankfurt Saturday (October 18), a presentation titled Haunted Homelands: Writing Taiwan Through Magic and Memory, featuring authors Tiong-siong Ou and Kevin Chen with moderator Monika Li. In this session, the speakers will explore how magical realism reveals family, hometown, and history.
- At 1 p.m., also on Saturday (October 18), The Writing of ‘Ling’: When Poetry, Boys’ Love, and Manga Meet Taiwan Folklore. The speakers in this one will include authors Wu Huaichen, Shi Wu, and Nownow. The hour is to feature poetic Austronesian myths, the witchcraft and ghost marriages found in boys’ love fiction, and/or female ghosts in comics.
Gray Tan: Between High Fantasy and Real World
“When we talk about fantasy in Taiwanese literature, ” Tan says, “I think it’s important to note the distinction between high fantasy—i.e. set in a secondary world like Lord of the Rings and A Game of Thrones—and fantasy set in the real world with supernatural elements.
Most fantasy readers grew up reading Lord of the Rings, the ‘Harry Potter’ series—which is not exactly high fantasy since it’s supposedly ‘real world’—A Game of Thrones or playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest etc. When these readers turn to writing, almost inevitably it’s high fantasy. Everyone wants to create his or her own Middle-earth or Westeros. There have been many such attempts but very little success.
A lot of such stories have to be published under the guise of Japanese-style ‘light novels’ since it’s the only category open to submissions. Most mainstream publishers, even the few science-fiction/fantasy publishers, don’t really consider local authors.”
This is likely why, Tan says, so many Taiwanese fantasy novels are set in the real world, “but with ghosts and gods among us.
“Culturally it’s more resonant,” he says, “more accessible to readers. And much closer to our everyday lives. For many writers, this is also a conscious move to write ‘Taiwanese’ stories—stories that are rooted in our own culture and reflecting our colonial history (from Dutch, Japanese, and mainland Chinese people) and current political climate (the constant fear of China’s invasion) and of course a major focus on folklore, indigenous culture, environmental issues.”
Several other cultures, Tan notes, have localized versions of high fantasy. In these instances, he mentions Japan’s Record of Lodoss War and Dragon Quest. Korea has Lee Young-do’s Dragon Raja, with an online game to bolster its success. “Not Taiwan,” he says. And he has some apt comments on some of the key titles that the Frankfurt program is highlighting.
Cover art from several key Taiwanese fantasy titles that TAICCA will present at Frankfurter Buchmesse. From left are ‘Ghost Town’; ‘The Wizard’; Guardienne’; and ‘The Divine Flesh I’
Kevin Chen’s Ghost Town is a contemporary example of a newer generation of writers’ work. Chen and other authors explore gender, politics, and social change in their work.
Gray Tan says, “We sold Kevin Chen’s Ghost Town as literary fiction, although we did note the strong magical realism element—13 territories and counting.”
The book’s story is set in a small town in central Taiwan. Its name means “Eternal Peace.” It is the birthplace of Chen Tien-Hong, the youngest of seven siblings and result of parents who desperately wanted a son but instead got only daughters. Yet he turns out to be gay, so of course he had to run away.”
The Wizard, by Shi Wu and illustrated by Uri, is described as a “light novel,” and deals with an 18-year-old, Cheng Jinxi, who is accused of murdering a dozen of his relatives in a single night. It has sold not only its television rights but also a fine group of translation rights into English (LoveLove), German (Tokyo Pop) Thai (SMM), Vietnamese (Daisy Books), and Korean (Taerangbooks).
Guardienne, written and illustrated by Nownow, is a 2020 winner in the best new talent category of the Golden Comics Awards. Descriptive material about it says, “In the Taiwan of the early 1900s, the happiness of a married woman depended on providing a son. Doing so became an obsession, involving various rituals. Nownow combines traditions and history to provide a visually ravishing look at the lives of women in Qing dynasty Taiwan.”
And The Divine Flesh I is written by Teensy as the tale of “a troubled human avatar of a powerful god who discovers that a once-defeated enemy is again preparing Earth for the arrival of a dark power.”
Gray Tan at the agency says, “We sold The Divine Flesh to Korea in a big deal. We expect a lot of good things next year when the Netflix series is released.“
These books and more will be at the Taiwan pavilion in Hall 6.0, D55, throughout Frankfurt week, where extensively informed specialists in such literature will welcome all comers with typical, warm Taiwanese hospitality. The team is to include six authors (including Kevin Chen, Nownow, Katniss Hsiao) and eight rights professionals. Be sure to check the schedule for author events, panels, and workshops centered at the pavilion.
The pavilion, in fact, is where you will find 343 original titles from 46 publishers. Key genres featured will include not only fantasy and folklore, as discussed in this article, but also female writing, queer literature, and BL comics.
In fact, the pavilion has its opening on Frankfurt Wednesday, October 15, at 4 p.m., in case you’re in the area of Hall 6 and would like to look in.
And in addition, Taiwan will be featured in nine events on Frankfurt’s Asia Stage, which you’ll find at Hall 5.1, A75.
More from Publishing Perspectives on the Asian book markets is here, more on Taiwan and its book business is here, more on international fiction is here, more on the work of Gray Tan and his Grayhawk Agency is here, and more on translation and international publishing rights is here.
More on Frankfurter Buchmesse, its events and people, is here.
A version of this story originally appeared in our Publishing Perspectives 2025 Show Magazine. If you can’t be with us in Frankfurt this year, be sure to download our PDF of the full magazine here.
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