South Korean author Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature | Books

The Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to 53-year-old South Korean writer Han Kang for her “intense poetic prose that grapples with historical trauma and exposes the fragility of human life.” Her works include The Vegetarian, The White Book, Human Acts and Greek Lessons.

“I was able to speak to Han Kang on the phone,” said Swedish Academy permanent secretary Mats Malm after the winner was announced. “She seemed to be having a normal day – she had just had dinner with her son. She wasn't really prepared for this, but we started talking about preparations for December – when Han will be awarded the Nobel Prize.

Han's novels, novellas, essays and short story collections deal in various ways with themes such as patriarchy, violence, grief and humanity. Her 2007 novel The Vegetarian, translated into English by Deborah Smith in 2015, won the 2016 International Booker Prize.

Han is the first South Korean author and 18th woman to win the prize. Her “empathy for vulnerable, often female lives is palpable and reinforced by her metaphorically charged prose,” said Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee. “She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and has become an innovator in contemporary prose in a poetic and experimental style.”

“I have long known that Han Kang is one of the most profound and accomplished writers working on the contemporary world stage,” said novelist Deborah Levy. “Well done, dearest Han Kang, I am so happy that you are our Nobel Prize for 2024.”

Novelist Max Porter, who edited Smith's translation of “The Vegetarian,” said Han was “a living voice and a writer of extraordinary humanity.” Her work is a gift to us all. I am extremely pleased that she has been recognized by the Nobel Committee. New readers will discover and be transformed by her wondrous work.”

According to writer Eimear McBride, Han is “one of the greatest living writers.” “She is a voice for women, for truth and, above all, for the power of what literature can be. This is a well-deserved victory.”

Han was born in 1970 in Gwangju, a city in southwest South Korea. When she was ten years old, her family moved to the Suyu-dong district of Seoul. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University in the capital.

In 1993, Han made her literary debut with a series of five poems published in the Korean magazine Literature and Society. The following year, she won the Seoul Shinmun Spring Literature Competition with the story “Red Anchor.”

Her first short story collection, Love of Yeosu, was published in 1995. In 1998, she participated in the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, supported by the Arts Council Korea, for three months.

“The Vegetarian” was her first novel to be translated into English. Although the translation was criticized, it won the International Booker Prize and helped bring Han worldwide readership.

Author Boyd Tonkin, chairman of the International Booker 2016 jury, wrote in an X post that “media mockers ridiculed our choice of an 'obscure' Korean eight years ago.” discover more that unique vision and voice,” he added.

Han's latest novel, We Do Not Part, will be published in English in 2025, translated by E Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris. The story is about an author who discovers the impact of the 1948-49 Jeju Uprising on her friend's family. The French translation of the novel won the Prix Médicis Étranger in 2023.

“What a wonderful moment this is for Han Kang and everyone who loves her work,” said Simon Prosser, publishing director at Hamish Hamilton, Han's UK publisher. “In her writing of extraordinary beauty and clarity, she unwaveringly confronts the painful question of what it means to be human – to belong to a species capable of acts of cruelty and love at the same time.” She sees, thinks and feels how no other writer.”