Where Every Ghost Has a Name

A Memoir of Taiwanese Independence

In 2010, Kim Liao traveled to Taiwan to learn the truth about her family. After WWII, her grandfather Thomas Liao became the leader of the Taiwanese independence movement, his land was seized, his relatives were arrested, and his nephew was sentenced to death. With their lives at stake, Thomas’s wife Anna brought their four children to America to start a new life—never speaking a word about Thomas again.

When Kim arrived in Taiwan six decades later, she was shocked to learn that the KMT government had erased much of the story of Taiwanese independence from the official historical record. For years, Taiwanese citizens were kept in the dark about the violence that transpired during four decades of martial law, with the silenced voices of the White Terror Period mirroring the silencing of the Liao family’s story.

Kim Liao’s writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, The Rumpus, McSweeney’s, The Millions, Salon, Fourth River, Hippocampus, and others. A former Taiwan Fulbright Creative Research Scholar, her work has received support from the Vermont Studio Center, the Jentel Foundation, the Hambidge Center, the Anderson Center, and the Ragdale Foundation. She lives near New York City and teaches writing to students of all ages.

Despite this suppression, she learned that former independence leaders had preserved this history in their memories and personal archives. With their help, Kim discovered two stories: her family's story of love and loss, and Taiwan’s fight for freedom.

Praise for Where Every Ghost Has a Name:

“In this astonishing story, Kim Liao skillfully unravels a family mystery through a blend of meticulous historical inquiry and vividly imagined reconstructions of the past. This work is not just an important contribution to Taiwanese history, but also a profound account of the wide-reaching personal sacrifices that resistance against authoritarianism entails.”

— Shawna Yang Ryan, author of Green Island

“From its astonishing opening lines, Where Every Ghost Has a Name grabbed me by the collar and never let me go. Both a poignant memoir and a riveting mystery, this is a deeply moving, meticulously researched debut.”

— Kirstin Chen, New York Times bestselling author of Counterfeit