《TAIPEI TIMES》 Three win Taiwan-France award for their cultural efforts

/ Staff writer, with CNA

German translator Thilo Diefenbach and academic Charlotte Pollet from France were presented with the Taiwan-France Cultural Award, while Taiwanese pianist Tchen Yu-chiou （陳郁秀） was honored with a Taiwan-France Special Contribution award, the Ministry of Culture announced yesterday.

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Tchen has for a long time worked to promote Taiwan-France exchanges and is the most decorated Taiwanese in France, the ministry said in a statement.

She has earned the titles of Knight of the National Order of Merit in 1996, Knight of the Legion of Honor in 2008 and Officer of Arts and Letters in 2009, it said.

After winning first prize at the Paris Conservatory in 1975, she returned to Taiwan to work as a professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s （NTNU） Department of Music teaching French classical music, the ministry said.

She went on to become dean of the NTNU College of Arts and created French courses while pushing for exchanges between Taiwan and France in the fields of visual arts and crafts, it said.

Diefenbach, a self-described “Taiwan researcher,” began studying Taiwanese literary history in 2009 and has since penned several articles on Taiwan and Taiwanese literature in the Hefte fur Ostasiatische Literatur magazine, of which he later became deputy editor, the ministry said.

He has published collections of translated works from Taiwan’s Martial Law era, works by pro-localization poet Cheng Chiung-ming （鄭?明） and works dating back to the rule of Koxinga, also known as Ming Dynasty general Cheng Cheng-kung （鄭成功）, it said.

Charlotte Pollet, an associate professor at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, has lived in Taiwan for 15 years and is a naturalized Taiwanese, the ministry said.

She has organized the annual Philosophy Week since 2018, and founded the nonprofit organization PhiloZokids with the aim of developing a methodology for teaching philosophy to Taiwanese children, it said.

The three recipients were selected by Jean-Robert Pitte, permanent secretary at the Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, Minister of Culture Lee Yung-te （李永得） and a jury in Taipei.

The Taiwan-France Cultural Award was launched in 1996 by the ministry （the then-Council for Cultural Affairs） and Academie des Sciences Morales et Politiques, with jury meetings taking place alternately in Taipei and Paris.

The ministry said that applications for next year’s awards opened yesterday.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES