Kiera Johnson

LITERARY TRANSLATOR

Kiera Johnson is a literary translator and writer based in the UK. She has a BA in Chinese Studies from the University of Oxford and MA in Taiwan Studies from SOAS, University of London. Her main areas of focus are Chinese and Taiwanese literature, queer culture, and science fiction.


Translations

2026

Modes of Co-existence: Earthquakes in Everyday Life – Juan Rose Hsiu-Li 阮秀莉, adapted by Huang Pai-Cheng 黃百晟 (non-fiction article)
  • Chapter included in Isle of All Beings: Changing Ecologies in Taiwan, edited by Zhan Min-Xu, Chang Ti-Han and Hsieh Hsin-Chin.
  • Published by Balestier Academic in collaboration with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Science and Technology Council, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, and National Taiwan University.
Transnational Natural Disasters: Tsunamis and Global Disaster Relief Networks – Wang James W.Y. 王文岳 and Yang Alan Hao 楊昊, adapted by Lü Yue 呂樾 (non-fiction article)
  • Chapter included in Isle of All Beings: Changing Ecologies in Taiwan, edited by Zhan Min-Xu, Chang Ti-Han and Hsieh Hsin-Chin.
  • Published by Balestier Academic in collaboration with the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Science and Technology Council, National Museum of Taiwan Literature, and National Taiwan University.

2024

A Well-Fed Companion 伴我同行 – Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu 慕明 (short story)

2020

Express to Beijing West Railway Station 开往西站的特别列车 – Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu 慕明 (short story)
Forty Days: Growing Closer to My Parents During Quarantine 隔离在家一个月,我与父母的关系变好了 – Deng Anqing 邓安庆 (non-fiction essay)
  • Translated collaboratively as part of the Give-it-a-Go translation project, run by the Leeds Centre for New Chinese Writing and Paper Republic.
  • Published on the Writing Chinese website as the final instalment in the Read Paper Republic: Epidemic essay series.

Articles

2024

Ghost in the Console: How Video Games Use Horror to Confront Troubled Histories

2021

Annihilation: When Adaptation Becomes Transformation
  • Published by the Oxford Film Appreciation Society in ‘Adaption’, issue #6 of The Reel Thing zine.
The Big Queer Monster