South Korean writer Han Kang wins 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature

On October 10th, 2024, The Swedish Academy announced the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to renowned South Korean writer Han Kang. The X (formerly Twitter) handle of Nobel Prize in a tweet wrote that Kang had been awarded the Nobel Prize in literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

After the announcement, Mats Malm, secretary of The Swedish Academy, revealed he had a conversation with Han Kang. Mr. Malm mentioned what Kang was doing when she received the news, and he also added that they discussed the preparations for December. For those unaware, Kang will receive her Nobel Prize in December.

Mats Malm said, "I was able to talk to Han Kang on the phone,” said Swedish Academy permanent secretary Mats Malm after announcing the winner. “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 Kang won the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature over prolific names like Can Xue, Gerald Murnane, and Haruki Murakami. It's important to note that Kang is the daughter of a renowned South Korean writer Han Seugn-won. It would be fair to assume Kang was always interested in literature as she studied Korean Literature at Yonsei University.

She also enrolled for an International Writing Program at the University of Iowa in 1998. However, her career in literature began way before she could enroll at the University of Iowa. In 1993, Han Kang published five poems in the winter edition of Literature and Society. One poem of these five, titled "Winter in Seoul" is extremely popular.

After this, Kang wrote her first short story, The Scarlet Anchor, in 1994, and this short story became the winning entry at the Seoul Shinmun Spring Literary Contest. After finding early success in her literary career, she wasted no time as her debut work, A Love of Yeosu, was published in 1995 and she once again received a lot of recognition for the same.

Since then, Han Kang published 18 books, many of which earned her prestigious awards and fame. One such book is The Vegetarian, which earned Kang the International Booker Prize in 2016. This three-part novel revolves around Yeong-hye, who is a homemaker and part-time graphic artist.

The plot of The Vegetarian revolves around a traumatic dream about human cruelty that leads Yeong-hye to stop eating meat, which leads to consequences in her personal life and family life. Apart from The Vegetarian, the website of The Nobel Prize recommends Greek Lessons and Human Acts as some of Kang's must-read works.