Yi-Hsuan Li

2023 Taiwan Ministry of Culture Fellow

Yi-Hsuan Li

Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, Yi-Hsuan Li is a screenwriter, novelist, journalist, researcher, and translator. She holds an MA in Screenwriting from London Film School, a BA in Foreign Languages and Literatures from National Taiwan University, and is currently a member of the Playwright Lab of Voleur du Feu Theatre.

Believing that storytelling can be a force for social change, Yi-Hsuan develops cross-genre, high-concept stories dealing with difficult historical, political, and social issues (e.g. animal rights, transitional justice, social welfare, and mental health). Her works include historical fantasy novel Meiling’s Memory Café (2022), feature film scripts The Ghosts Wear Decathlon (nominated for the 2023 Excellent Screenplay Award), Tragic Love Story (nominated for the 3rd Wild Grass Project), and The Happy World. She also collaborated with film production companies as a freelance screenwriter and wrote Love Game (feature film), Crazy Night Market (animation series), and Super Cat (TV series).

Yi-Hsuan is experienced in conducting interviews, doing field research, collecting oral histories, and managing historical documents. She participated in projects researching historical sites related to the 228 incident and white terror in Taiwan, and served as the executive editor and co-writer for the book Sites Where Injustices Were Committed: Spatial Practice of Transitional Justice (2022). Her works can also be found on news forums like The Reporter, Initium Media, United Daily, etc.

With a passion for discovering stories, she volunteered in various places, including animal shelters and LGBTQ+ lifeline in Taiwan, schools and villages in Mumbai, India. With the experience, she started a column “Becoming a Passer-by of Others” on the United Daily News, exploring the complexity of entering different fields as a volunteer. During her exchange program in Warsaw and MA program in London, she also researched how historical trauma affects society in Poland and Northern Ireland.