• 2020-08-03

In recent years, the summer reading lectures that National Central Library has put on regarding Taiwan studies have been well received. From May 23 to July 11, 2020, NCL and the sponsor Lam Research Corp. hosted six lectures on “Bringing together Millennial Authors: Images of a New Generation of Authors.” Issues discussed ranged from ethic groups, society, history, to literature.

The general public in Taiwan is relatively unfamiliar with the current writings of the new generation of authors. Yet, authors born after the 1980s are already a core part of the literary circles in Taiwan. Millennial authors—those born between 1980 and 2000—grew up in a mature economic environment, with access to global information, the rapid development of digital technology. Due to this, their style and subject matter carry some heritage from previous authors, but at the same time have their unique generational differences. The lecture series invited millennial authors Chongkai Huang, Salizan, Yuchin Chen, Yu-chia Luo, Fumin Yang, and Ruoci Yang to participate. Each session featured a scholar who specialized in Taiwan studies research to speak with an author. The audience was given a peek at the thoughts behind the creations of this new generation of authors, as well as the 21^st century Taiwan reflected in their writings.

This lecture series was in the planning stages for close to a year. A total of six sessions were held, all on Saturday afternoons. The first three sessions could only permit 115 participants due to the need to leave every other seat empty because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, with the easing of the pandemic in Taiwan, starting on June 13, the remaining three sessions accommodated 400 participants.