“I grew up with Korean literature, which I feel very close to. So I hope this news is nice for Korean literature readers, and my friends and writers.”
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Han Kang
Han Kang is a South Korean writer. From 2007 to 2018, she taught creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. Han rose to international prominence for her novel The Vegetarian, which became the first Korean language novel to win the International Booker Prize for fiction in 2016. Han is the first Asian woman and Korean to be a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, receiving the award…
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culture · South Korean writer (born 1970) · writer · novelist · short story writer · poet · also Han Kang, Han Gang, Kang
Born 27 November 1970 · Q5646626
42 published statements · 0 followers
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Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature — for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.
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2026· 3 entries
The Guardian: This month’s best paperbacks: David Szalay, Han Kang and more
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The Guardian: Light and Thread by Han Kang review – a tantalising book of reflections
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2025· 5 entries
The Guardian: Han Kang Nobel prize lecture book sells 10,000 copies in first day online in South Korea
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The Guardian: We Do Not Part by Han Kang review – a harrowing journey into South Korea’s bloody history
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The Guardian: We Do Not Part by Han Kang review – a masterpiece from the Nobel laureate
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The Guardian: ‘I want to be hopeful’: Nobel prize-winning novelist Han Kang on the crisis in South Korea
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Han was among 414 South Korean writers who were signatories to a petition urging the Constitutional Court of Korea to uphold the impeachment of suspended president Yoon Suk Yeol over his martial law declaration
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2024· 12 entries
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature — for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.
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The Guardian: ‘I emerged painfully transformed from her books’: Han Kang readers on her Nobel literature prize
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The Guardian: The Guardian view on Han Kang: a bold outsider has been rewarded | Editorial
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The Guardian: Han Kang’s books sell out as South Korea celebrates her Nobel prize in literature
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The Guardian: Han Kang’s Nobel win is testament to importance of small press publishing
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The Guardian: South Korean author Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel prize in literature
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Awarded Ho-Am Prize in the Arts (2024).
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Awarded Nobel Prize in Literature (2024).
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Han stated that they had been divorced for many years
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In recognition of her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life"
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Han's short story "Heavy Snow" was published by the 18 November 2024 issue of The New Yorker
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Han was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature by the Swedish Academy for her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life"
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2023· 5 entries
Awarded Prix Médicis étranger for We Do Not Part (2023).
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The Guardian: Han Kang: ‘One year I couldn’t bear fiction and read astrophysics instead’
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The Guardian: Greek Lessons by Han Kang review – loss forges an intimate connection
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Recognizing her significant contributions to global literature and the impact of her works beyond South Korea
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Han's fourth full-length novel, Greek Lessons, was translated into English by Deborah Smith and E Yaewon
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2019· 1 entry
– Future Library project Writer of the Year
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2018· 1 entry
Han became the fifth writer chosen to contribute to the Future Library project
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2017· 1 entry
Awarded Premio Malaparte for Human Acts (2017).
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2016· 1 entry
Awarded International Booker Prize for The Vegetarian (2016).
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2010· 3 entries
“Writing is a way of questioning for me. I don’t try to find an answer, but to complete the question, or to stay within the question as long as I can. In a sense, writing fiction can be compared with pacing back and forth. You go forward and then come back again, pondering questions that both sears and chills you internally.”
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“I believe that trauma is something to be embraced rather than healed or recovered from. I believe that grief is something which situates the place/space of the dead within the living; and that, through repeatedly revisiting that place, through our pained and silent embrace of it over the course of a whole life, life is, perhaps paradoxically, made possible.”
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“I don’t see a single concept of ‘national’ or ‘literature’. Rather, I’ve always been fascinated by language. I enjoy contemplating the great depth, complexity and delicacy of the layers of a culture in which a single language is in-built. I owe a great debt to poetry and fiction written in Korean, as I spent my adolescence immersed within these.”
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2007· 1 entry
Han published a book, A Song to Sing Calmly (가만가만 부르는 노래), that was accompanied by a music album
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2005· 2 entries
Awarded Yi Sang Literary Award (2005).
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– Yi Sang Literary Award for Mongolian Mark
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1999· 1 entry
The 2000 Today's Young Artist Award from the Korean Ministry of Culture, and the 2010 Dongri Literary Award for The Wind is Blowing
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1998· 1 entry
Participated in the University of Iowa International Writing Program for three months with support from the Arts Council Korea
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1995· 1 entry
And attracted attention for its precise and tightly narrated structure
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1993· 2 entries
Han graduated from Yonsei University, where she majored in Korean language and literature
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Studied at Yonsei University (1989–1993).
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1988· 1 entry
Graduated from Poongmoon Girls' High School, now Poongmoon High School, where she had been a class president
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1970· 1 entry
Born 1970-11-27.
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