South Korean author Han Kang receives the Nobel Prize for Literature

South Korean author Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature on Thursday. The Nobel Committee recognized her for “her intense poetic prose that grapples with historical trauma and exposes the fragility of human life.”

Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee, praised Han for her “physical sensitivity to the vulnerable, often female life” depicted in her work.

He added that she possessed “a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead,” which made her an innovator in contemporary prose through her poetic and experimental style.

Anna-Karin Palm, another member of the Nobel Committee for Literature, noted Han's ability to write “intense lyrical prose that is both tender and brutal and at times slightly surrealistic.”

Han is the first Asian woman and the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Her win adds to South Korea's cultural significance and follows other global successes such as Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning film parasite and the K-pop phenomenon with groups like BTS and BLACKPINK. She is also the second South Korean Nobel Prize winner after former President Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.

Han, 53, already won the 2016 International Booker Prize for her novel The vegetariana deeply disturbing story about a woman's decision to stop eating meat, with devastating consequences. Reflecting on her work at the time, Han described writing as a tool for questioning, noting that throughout the process she “try[s]to stay in the questions,” which she often finds painful and demanding.

Her novel was published in 2018 Human actions was a finalist for the International Booker Prize. Olsson called it a work of “witness literature” that dealt with the 1980 massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Gwangju, Han's hometown.

Han's literary career began with her debut as a poet in 1993. Her first novel, Black deerwas published in 1998. Several of her works have been translated into English, including The vegetarian, Greek lessons, Human actionsAnd The White Paperwhich is about the death of her older sister shortly after birth. Her latest novel, We're not breaking upis scheduled to be published in English next year.

Han's Nobel Prize underscores the committee's departure from its traditional focus on European and North American writers. The literary prize has been criticized because it is dominated by men. Before this year, there were only 17 women among the 119 award winners. Annie Ernaux of France was the last woman to win the prize in 2022.

This year's Nobel Prize announcements began with Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize, followed by John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton in physics, and scientists who decoded proteins in chemistry.

The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on Friday, the economics prize will be awarded on October 14th. Recipients will receive 11 million Swedish krona (US$1 million).

This article contains reporting from The Associated Press