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The Blue Magpie and Raven Take Flight

Today, our new book of tales in translation from Taiwanese and Gaelic flies the nest.

Today, we’re incredibly proud to be launching Tâigael: Stories from Taiwanese & Gaelic, a first-of-its-kind anthology translating between Taiwanese and Gaelic languages, via Mandarin and English. The book is available in handsome paperback, and in an equally fine-looking EPUB edition.

This is a book in which the languages and cultures of Scotland and Taiwan collide and intertwine. In Naomi Sím’s “Emerald Orchid Love Letter”, a goddess of saliva disappears, just as the narrator finds a strange tumour growing in her mouth. Meanwhile, in “The Empty Chair” by Elissa Hunter-Dorans, the Free Church gatecrashes a Hogmanay party in Inverness. Kiú-kiong’s “4:44:44” is a tale about prophecy and madness in the streets of Taipei, and the strategies we might employ to avoid losing our minds. Finally, in Lisa MacDonald’s “Freedom”, a woman, heading home from her big day in court, tussles with a sheep trapped in the roadside brambles.

Each of these four stories by women writers from Taiwan and Scotland is published in five versions: Gaelic, English, Mandarin (Traditional), and Taiwanese (in both pe̍h-ōe-jī Romanisation, and 漢字 characters). You can order your copy today from the Wind&Bones Bookshop.

You can also listen to all the stories for free — read by our star team of writers and translators — on the accompanying website: https://taigael.com/stories. Get yourself a copy, get a copy for your friends, and share about the book on social media using the hashtag #taigael.

The book is available from all good bookshops. Click the cover below to find links to places to buy a copy, wherever you are in the world!

Tâigael: Stories from Taiwanese & Gaelic

Advance Praise:

Here are some of the wonderful things people are saying about the book:

“Four thoughtful and thought-provoking stories in conversation across languages and cultures — how exciting, and how necessary! This marvellous anthology, full of grace and wit, shows how writers and indeed whole literatures thrive when in contact with other voices.“ — Garry MacKenzie, author of Scotland: a Literary Guide for Travellers and Ben Dorain: a conversation with a mountain

“I am grateful for the publication of this book. A mother tongue is the root of culture, and a culture that loses its mother tongue is like a plant without roots. This book will greatly inspire the promotion of language equality and literary translation.” — Li Yuan 李遠, screenwriter and Taiwan Minister for Culture

“In this imaginative and profoundly original book, two seemingly distant worlds—Gaelic Scotland and Taiwanese communities—are brought into resonant dialogue through their suppressed languages, enduring myths, and local beliefs. By placing Gaelic and Taiwanese side by side, the book creates a striking intimacy with the daily lives that preserve them. Both Scotland and Taiwan, small democracies with rich and complex histories, emerge here as sites of cultural resilience and deep-rooted memory. Beautifully translated across four languages, these evocative and subtle stories show, as editors Hannah Stevens and Will Buckingham put it, ‘what it means to seek out connections that might bind us more closely.’” — Michelle Kuo, author of Reading With Patrick

“Here, the scattered voices of Taiwanese and Scottish Gaelic meet. Stories rooted in our mother tongues that glow like the sunlight of early spring—these are tales that, in their gentleness, quietly burn.” —Tân Lêkun 陳麗君, professor of Taiwanese literature, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan

“Stories told well and without fear invite us in, so we can travel in the depths of their inspiration. In this innovative collection, East and West become travel partners, opening crucial doors between Taiwanese and Gaelic creativity. What a lovely partnership. How much they have to tell each other, late into the night; and how rich our sharing becomes!” — Martin MacIntyre (Scotland), author, Bàrd and storyteller