Catherine Xinxin Yu (she/they) is a literary translator working with Chinese, Cantonese, English, and Italian.
Publications & Projects
Last updated in May 2025
Literary Translation
Books Seeking English Publishers
Little Brother 弟弟, Chan Wai 陳慧 (novel)
Full translation funded by the Taiwanese Ministry of Culture
shortlisted for the 2025 PEN Presents x International Booker Prize GrantA deeply moving bildungsroman set in post-Handover Hong Kong from 1997-2016, about two siblings whose lives are profoundly changed by the pro-democracy Umbrella Movement in 2014 and its aftermath.The Whale and Our City 鯨魚之城, Lok Leung 可洛 (novel)A magical realist fable inspired by a humpback whale sighting in Hong Kong waters in 2009, capturing a mix of angst and hope about the future in 2000s Hong Kong, reminiscent of Italy Calvino's Invisible Cities, Dorothy Tse's Owlish, and Shaun Tan’s Tales from the Inner City.Water Burial 水葬, Kay So 蘇朗欣 (novel)An elegiac novella about land dispossession, impossible loves, and voiceless women and children pitched against male brutality in the New Territories, the borderland between Hong Kong and China, with Gothic descriptions of decay, intimate glimpses into trauma, and a nonlinear narrative of a return-revenge that recall Arudhati Roy's The God of Small Things and Natalia García Freire's This World Does Not Belong to Us.Island of a Thousand Deities 眾神之島, Kuang Feng 光風 (stories)
Full translation funded by the Taiwanese Ministry of CultureA collection of six delightful stories about everyday experiences of Taiwanese temple culture and pantheistic folk beliefs, which glimmer with ordinary miracles and a healing warmth.There’s Something About My Brother 滌這個不正常的人, Liao Mi 廖瞇 (memoir)A deeply moving memoir about communicating with the author’s neurodiverse brother who’s withdrawn from social life, and an honest exploration of toxic dynamics in a traditional Taiwanese family.More Than Words 腹語山, Kit 山女孩(方妙) (novel)Dense Fog Alert 濃霧特報, Yang Li-Min 楊莉敏 (essay collection)
Translations in Anthologies and Journals
My Mother's Juancun Days 眷村歲月的母親 [essay], Liglav A-wu 利格拉樂·阿烏 | forthcomingFrom the Moment We Parted Ways ~ Austronesian beneath the Southern Cross 從分手的那一刻起~南十字星下的南島語 [poems] | Salizan Takisvilainan 沙力浪 | forthcomingGuide Us, Chicken Booty! 那一天我們跟在雞屁股後面尋路 [short story], He Wun-jin 何玟珒 | Asymptote Journal, 2024Turbulence 亂流 [excerpt from short story], Mukyu 沐羽, La Piccioletta Barca, 2024The Shapes of Stories 製圖 [excerpt from short story], Mukyu 沐羽 | The Oxonian Review, 2024Cloudland 雲在兩千米 [short story], Wu Ming-yi 吳明益 | A Taiwanese Eco Reader, forthcomingCloudland 雲在兩千米 [excerpt from short story], Wu Ming-yi 吳明益 | Asymptote Journal, 2023
Mangas, Pictures Books, Graphic Novels
The God's Convenience Store 神明便利商店, Tung Lin Tsieh 謝東霖
Full translation funded by Books from TaiwanMoonlight Calling 月亮的名字, Lang Chi 狼七
Full translation funded by Books from TaiwanWhere Are You Going? 鬼要去哪裡, Rimui Yumin 韋蘺若明
Full translation funded by Books from Taiwan
Essays, Reviews, Literary News
To Neither Master Nor Be Mastered By Language: An Interview with Quyên Nguyễn-Hoàng | Asymptote Blog, 2025Love at Last Sight: Writing Hong Kong in Taiwan | Full Stop Magazine, 2024A Tour of Latin American Kid Lit in 15 Translations | Words Without Borders, 2024Principle of Decision: Translation from Italian | Asymptote Blog, 2024Compound Vision: In Conversation with Catherine Xinxin Yu on Translating Wu Ming-yi’s “Cloudland” | Asymptote Blog, 2023Review of The Road to the City by Natalia Ginzburg translated by Gini Alhadeff | Asymptote Blog, 2023Salone del Libro 2023: Diversity through the Looking Glass | Asymptote Blog, 2023
Academic Translation
Exhibition Text | Shaanxi Archaeology Museum, 2021Liangzhu: Society, Belief, and Art in Neolithic China [Chapters 1, 2, 4, 6] (權力與信仰：良渚特展) | Routledge, 2020The Italian Economy after Covid 19 [copyediting] | Bononia University Press, 2020Andrea Palladio: Villa Caldogno [Chapters 4-7] | Bononia University Press, 2020Research on the Lacquered Channel Figurine (天回鎮漢墓髹漆經脈人研究舉隅) [research paper] | UCL Looms of Life Conference, 2018 | Brill Asian Medicine vol.18, 2023Emperor Qin Shihuang and His Mausoleum in Global Perspective [conference abstracts] (国际视野下的秦始皇与秦始皇帝陵研讨会)Dialogue of Civilisations: Comparing Multiple Centres of Early Civilisation of the World [conference abstracts]Western Han Period Mural Tombs in Xi'an [research abstract] (西安西汉壁画墓)Imperial Logistics: The Making of the Terracotta Army [research papers on archaeometallurgy]
Other Translations
80+ news articles on the food industry | NOM Magazine, 2018-2020
Education & Relevant Experiences
Last updated in 2025
Advance Translation Workshop: Publishing Literature from Taiwan
British Centre for Literary Translation, UEA | Nov 2024
Full Bursary awarded by the National Museum of Taiwan LiteratureItalian-English Translation Workshop
British Centre for Literary Translation, UEA | Jul 2024
Full Bursary awarded by Pro HelvetiaLiterature from Taiwan Translation Workshop
British Centre for Literary Translation, UEA | Jul 2023
Full Bursary awarded by the National Museum of Taiwan LiteratureAssistant Editor (Fiction)
Asymptote Journal | 2023-presentLiterature from Taiwan Translation Workshop
British Centre for Literary Translation, UEA | Jul 2021
Full Bursary awarded by the National Museum of Taiwan LiteratureBristol Translates Summer School
University of Bristol | Jul 2021MA in Specialised Translation (110 cum laude)
University of Bologna | 2019-2022
SDL Trados 2020 Top Student Award winnerMA in Archaeology of Asia (Distinction)
University College London | 2014-2015BA in History (First Class Honours)
University College London | 2011-2014