TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwanese writer Hsieh Tzu-fan (謝子凡) spoke about her book “Me and the Garbage Truck I Chased” at Book World Prague 2024 on Sunday (May 26 ), per CNA.
The book was a prose collection of her writings reflecting her life experience. It included events like moving to a big city and her first job.
Hsieh said prose is deeply personal, but readers could find common ground with her frustrations. Hsieh also spoke about what writing meant to her.
Life was a cycle of uncertainty, instability, and stability for Hsieh, and she felt the same toward writing. Writing helped her come to terms with handling frustrations.
When Hsieh moved to a big city to work for an advertising company, she recalled not having time to take out her trash.
Still, she was asked to take out the trash for her boss. According to Hsieh, trash was literal and a metaphor for all the frustrations in life.
Her boss's trash prevented her from dealing with her trash. Hsieh recalled her life being a mess, which did not improve until she could catch the garbage truck on time once she quit her job.
Hsieh was surprised to find her publisher chose her prose collection for translations into the Czech language. She thought publishers preferred genres such as poetry or novels.
Although Czech readers may not have chased a garbage truck in their lives, she said they would certainly experience life frustrations. The writer hoped Czech readers read her second book, which will be out in September.
