Chinese-born author Veronica Li's novel '1882: A Gold Mountain Odyssey' wins Literary Titan Book Award, tracing a Chinese immigrant's story through the Gold Rush and the Chinese Exclusion Act
Chinese-born author Veronica Li's historical fiction novel 1882: A Gold Mountain Odyssey has received the Literary Titan Book Award, according to an announcement on November 14, 2026. The award recognizes the novel's storytelling, its portrayal of the Chinese immigrant experience in 19th-century America, and its exploration of identity, resilience, discrimination and belonging.
The novel follows Sam Wong, a young Chinese farmer who journeys to America in pursuit of opportunity against the backdrop of the California Gold Rush and the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. As anti-Chinese sentiment intensifies, his story culminates in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which barred Chinese laborers from immigrating and reinforced the exclusion of Chinese immigrants from citizenship. Literary Titan praised the novel's vivid depiction of immigrant life and its deeply human characters.
Veronica Li was born into a Chinese family, raised primarily in Hong Kong, and immigrated to the United States at age fifteen. A former journalist for The Asian Wall Street Journal and other outlets, she wrote the novel with her husband, Sverrir Sigurdsson.
Source: Literary Titan
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：19世纪中央太平洋铁路列车穿越 Sierra Nevada 山区的版画，华工是修建横贯大陆铁路的重要力量（资料图）。来源：Joseph Becker 素描，Wikimedia Commons，公共领域。 / Photo: A 19th-century engraving of a Central Pacific train in the Sierra Nevada; Chinese workers were central to building the transcontinental railroad (file photo). Source: Joseph Becker sketch, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
