Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming the first South Korean author to be honored with the prestigious award.
The Swedish Academy said it gave the award to Han “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
Han published her first book, the story collection Love of Yeosu, in 1995. She gained prominence in the English-speaking literary world in 2015, when Deborah Smith’s translation of her novel The Vegetarian was published in the U.K.; it came out in the U.S. the following year. The novel won the International Booker Prize.
Her other books to be translated into English include The White Book, which was shortlisted for the International Booker; Human Acts; and Greek Lessons.
“In her oeuvre, Han Kang confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life,” the Swedish Academy said. “She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose.”
Mats Malm, the Swedish Academy’s permanent secretary, talked on the phone with Han, the Guardian reports.
“She was having an ordinary day, it seemed—had just finished supper with her son. She wasn’t really prepared for this, but we have begun to discuss preparations for December.”
Han will be presented with the prize on Dec. 10, at a ceremony in Stockholm.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
