Wu Ming-yi
Wu Ming-yi (; born 20 June 1971) is a multidisciplinary Taiwanese artist, author, Professor of Sinophone literature at National Dong Hwa University and environmental activist. His ecological parable "The Man with the Compound Eyes" (2011) was published in English in 2013. Biography. Wu was born in 1971 in Taoyuan, Taiwan (now Taoyuan District, Taoyuan). He holds a BA in marketing from Fu Jen Catholic University and a PhD in Chinese Literature from National Central University. He published his first novel in 1997. In 2000, he began teaching Chinese literature and creative writing at National Dong Hwa University . In 2006, Wu resigned from teaching to take uninterrupted time to write and travel, which is when he started his Book "The Man with the Compound Eyes". Dong Hwa University later agreed to a one year sabbatical. Work. Wu is known for writing environmental literature. He is the author of several literary works, including collections of essays, short stories and novels. He is considered one of the major Taiwanese writers of his generation with writings translated into English, French, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Czech and Indonesian. In Chinese, he is especially well known for his non-fiction books on butterflies, "The  Book of Lost Butterflies" (2000) and "The Dao of Butterflies" (2003), which he also designed and illustrated. In "The Man with the Compound Eyes", an ecological parable or eco-fantasy, he tells the story of a young Pacific islander, Atelie (Atile'i in the English translation), from the fictitious island of Wayo Wayo (suggesting Bora Bora) who arrives on the East Coast of Taiwan when the 'trash vortex', a floating mountain of trash which has formed out of the Great Pacific Trash Vortex, collides with the island. The book has been described as "a masterpiece of environmental literature about an apocalyptic  aboriginal encounter with modernity...Trash, resource shortages, and the destruction of Taiwan's coastline as a result of the pursuit of unenlightened self-interest are unremarkable raw materials, but [Wu Mingyi] mashes them into art." His literature agent described it as a "Taiwanese Life of Pi". His 2015 book "The Stolen Bicycle" has been described as a study of bicycles in Taiwan during World War II. An English translation was published in 2017, and in March 2018 the book was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize. It became the center of a diplomatic dispute when, after pressure from the  People's Republic of China, the awards organizer changed his nationality from Taiwan to "Taiwan, China". In April 2018, the Man Booker International Prize made the final call stating that "Wu Ming-Yi is listed as ‘Taiwan’".