Biography:
I am a cultural and literary historian focusing on the Japanese Empire and its legacy in China and Taiwan. I am currently completing my first monograph, which looks at women’s writing, gendered citizenship, colonial history and translation politics in Taiwan from 1930 to the present day. My other research interests include the use of paratext in contemporary Sinophone fiction and cultures of scarcity during the Sino-Japanese war.
After studying History as an undergraduate, I studied for my MPhil and DPhil in Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford. Since graduating in 2022, I have worked as a research fellow at National Taiwan Central Library (2022) and as Lee Kai Hung Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Manchester China Institute (2023-24). I have also worked as a Lecturer in Chinese Studies at the University of Manchester (2023-24) where I taught courses on modern Chinese literature, East Asian visual culture and Japanese imperial history. Separately, I have translated colonial and contemporary fiction from Taiwan for Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series.
Publications:
“Growing Together: Yang Shuangzi’s Queer Adaptation of Taiwan’s Colonial Fiction”, Comparative Critical Studies 20 (2024): 60-79.
“Mother of the Nation: A Short Translation History of Yang Qianhe’s “Flower Blooming Season””, International Journal of Taiwan Studies 6/1 (2023): 82-108.
“Neither Fact nor Fiction: Endnotes, Mythorealism and Reading “Inner Truth” In Yan Lianke’s Lenin’s Kisses”, Concentric 47/2 (2021): 123-147.
Selected Translations:
“Yueliang de lian” (The Face of The Moon) by He Zhihe, tr. A. Cantrill, Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series 52 (Forthcoming 2024).
“Huang dao zhi chun” (Spring on the Desolate Isle) by Huang Kequan, tr. A. Cantrill, Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series 52 (Forthcoming 2024).
“Shan, chuan, cao, mu” (The Mountains, The Rivers, The Grass and The Trees) by Lü Ho-jo, tr. A Cantrill, Taiwan Literature: English Translation Series 50: Special Issue on Taiwan Fiction and Realism (2024): 51-82.
