South Korean author Han Kang has made history by winning the prestigious Nobel Prize in Literature. The 53-year-old fiction writer, known for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life, was praised at the ceremony for her remarkable contributions to the world of literature.
Han Kang, a former winner of the Man Booker International Prize for her novel The Vegetarian, has become the first South Korean to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Nobel Prize committee awarded her 11m krona (£810,000) for her outstanding work, describing her as an innovator in contemporary prose who explores a broad span of genres including violence, grief, and patriarchy.
Her turning point came in 2016 when she won the International Man Booker prize for The Vegetarian, a book that depicts the consequences of a woman who refuses to conform to societal norms of food intake. Han Kang’s other works, such as The White Book, Human Acts, and Greek Lessons, have also received critical acclaim for their unique exploration of complex themes.
At the ceremony, Swedish Academy permanent secretary Mats Malm praised Han Kang’s poetic and experimental style, highlighting her unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead. Committee chair Anders Olsen commended her for confronting historical traumas and invisible sets of rules, while also exposing the fragility of human life.
Han Kang, the daughter of novelist Han Seung-won, was born in Gwangju, South Korea, and later moved to Seoul to pursue her studies in Korean literature. With her works translated into more than 30 languages, she has made a significant impact on the global literary scene.
As the first female recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature since 2022, Han Kang joins the ranks of esteemed writers such as Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing, and Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Her win marks a historic moment for South Korean literature and solidifies her place as a groundbreaking author in the literary world.
