Catherine Xinxin Yu (she/they) is a literary translator working with Chinese, Cantonese, English, and Italian.
Publications & Projects
Last updated in May 2026
Literary Translation
Books Seeking English Publishers
The Becoming 變成的人, Hsu En-En 許恩恩 (novel)
Full translation funded by the Taiwanese Ministry of CultureLittle 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.Sucessor of the Great Magician 魔術師的接班人, Dylan Lee 李知融 (middle grade novel)
Full translation funded by the Taiwanese Ministry of CultureIsland 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滌這個不正常的人, Liao Mi 廖瞇 (memoir)An illuminating memoir about communicating with the author’s neurodiverse brother who is withdrawn from society, an honest exploration of the toxic silences and assumptions in a traditional Taiwanese family
Translations in Anthologies and Journals
How Humans Acquire Language 人如何學會語言 [short story], Wu Ming-Yi 吳明益 | forthcomingOne Way Flight 單程機票 [essay], Eugene Chen 陳又津 | forthcomingLife in a Juancun 眷村生活 [essay], Su Wei-Chen 蘇偉貞 | forthcomingSliced Pork with Garlic Sauce 蒜泥白肉 [short story], Kay So 蘇朗欣 | Words Without Borders, 2026My Mother's Juancun Days 眷村歲月的母親 [essay], Liglav A-wu 利格拉樂·阿烏, in Isle of the Austronesian | Balestier Press, 2025From 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, in Isle of the Austronesian | Balestier Press | 2025Cloudland 雲在兩千米 [short story], Wu Ming-yi 吳明益, in A Taiwanese Eco Reader | Columbia University Press, 2025Guide 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 [excerpt from short story], Wu Ming-yi 吳明益 | Asymptote Journal, 2023
Mangas, Pictures Books, Graphic Novels
The Three-Legged Crab-Eating Mongoose and the Giant 三隻腳的食蟹獴與巨人, Wu Ming-Yi 吳明益
Full translation funded by Books from TaiwanThe Puppeteers: The Undead Hero vs. The Mist Man 龍泉俠大戰迷霧人, Hambuck 漢寶包
Full translation funded by Books from TaiwanThe Great Magical Investigation Unit 大魔法搜查線, Chan Ho-Kei 陳浩基
Full translation funded by Books from TaiwanBack Street Dusk 消逝的後街光影, Chien Chia-Cheng 簡嘉誠
Full translation funded by Books from TaiwanThe 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
Book Samples
Lessons from Dulan 注視：都蘭野書, Lung Ying-Tai 龍應台 (novel)More Than Words 腹語山, Kit 山女孩(方妙) (novel)Fog Alert 濃霧特報, Yang Li-Min 楊莉敏 (essay collection)
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] (Italian into English) | 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 (English/Italian into Chinese)| NOM Magazine, 2018-2020Commercial Translation (Chinese <-> English) | 2015-2021
Education & Relevant Experiences
Last updated in 2025
Assistant Editor (Fiction)
Asymptote Journal | 2023-presentAdvance 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 LiteratureLiterature 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
Fellowships & Grants
Peter K. Jansen Travel Fellowship | 2025
to attend the 48th Annual Conference of the American Literary Translator Association (ALTA)English PEN Presents x International Booker Prize Grant | 2025
shortlisted for my translation of Little Brother by Chan Wai
Talks
Reading and Discussion with Taiwanese Ecocritical Writer Wu Ming-yi and Translator Catherine Xinxin Yu, Heidelberg University 'Taiwan Lecture Series' | 2025