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Han Kang

ハン・カン

Han Kang

Pen Names: Han Kang-hyun（Pen name used early in her fiction career）

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1970-11-27 （Gwangju, South Korea）
Nationality
South Korea
Languages
Korean
Residence History
Gwangju (birthplace) → Suyu-ri, Seoul (moved in childhood) → Seoul (ran an independent bookstore; residence)

Career

Occupations
Novelist, Poet, Essayist, Creative writing professor
Active Years
1993-
Affiliations
Seoul Institute of the Arts (Department of Creative Writing, professor)
Memberships
Royal Society of Literature (International Writer)
Influenced By
Yi Sang, Jürgen Hinzpeter (influence via documentary photographs)

Education

Yonsei University
Korean language and literature
Degree: BA
Period: 1989–1993
Year of Graduation: 1993
Country: South Korea
BA in Korean language and literature
University of Iowa International Writing Program (short-term)
Period: 1998（約3か月）
Country: United States
Three-month residency supported by Arts Council Korea

Awards

Korean Novel Award
1999
Work: Baby Buddha
Result: 受賞
Today's Young Artist Award (Literature)
2000
Organization: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (Korea)
Result: 受賞
Yi Sang Literary Award
2005
Work: Mongolian Mark
Result: 受賞
International Booker Prize
2016
Work: The Vegetarian
Organization: The Booker Prizes
Result: 受賞（翻訳者と共に授与）
Malaparte Prize
2017
Work: Human Acts (Italian translation: Atti Umani)
Organization: Premio Malaparte
Result: 受賞
Prix Médicis étranger
2023
Work: We Do Not Part (French translation)
Organization: Prix Médicis
Result: 受賞
Ho-Am Prize in the Arts
2024
Organization: Ho-Am Foundation
Result: 受賞
Nobel Prize in Literature
2024
Work: Citation: "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life"
Organization: Swedish Academy
Result: 受賞
Daesan Literary Award
2022
Work: We Do Not Part
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Vegetarian

2007 Fiction (contemporary novel)

A three-part novel exploring family relations, body, desire, violence and silence through a transformational story; internationally acclaimed in translation.

PhysicalityViolenceSilenceIndividual resistance
Adaptations
  • [Film] Vegetarian (film) / Lim Woo-Seong (2009)
Translations
  • English translation by Deborah Smith

Human Acts

2014 Historical novel / documentary-style fiction

Addresses the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, exploring individual and collective suffering, memory and loss; widely translated and highly acclaimed.

Historical traumaMemoryLossHuman solidarity
Translations
  • English translation by Deborah Smith
  • Italian translation (Atti Umani)

The White Book

2016 Autobiographical essay / prose fragments

An autobiographical meditation on the early death of her sister, using the motif of whiteness to explore mourning and language.

MourningMemoryColor (white)Limits of language
Translations
  • English translation by Deborah Smith

Greek Lessons

2011 Contemporary novel / intimate dialogue

Through the relationship between a person who has lost language and a Greek teacher, the book explores language, loneliness and healing.

Language and silenceLonelinessHealing
Translations
  • English translation by Deborah Smith & Emily Yae Won

We Do Not Part

2021 Historical novel / investigative memoir

Through a writer researching the Jeju uprising (1948–49), the novel examines historical memory and personal relations.

Historical memoryInvestigationCollective wounds
Translations
  • French translation (winner of Prix Médicis étranger)
  • English translation by Emily Yae Won & Paige Aniyah Morris

Bibliography

  • Love in Yeosu (1995)
  • Black Deer (1998)
  • The Vegetarian (2007)
  • Human Acts (2014)
  • The White Book (2016)
  • We Do Not Part (2021)

Adaptations

  • The Vegetarian → film adaptation (2009, dir. Lim Woo-Seong)
  • Baby Buddha → adapted as the film 'Scars' (2011, screenplay collaboration and dir. Lim Woo-Seong)

Translations of Works

  • The Vegetarian translated into English by Deborah Smith and into many other languages
  • Human Acts translated into English (Deborah Smith); We Do Not Part translated into French (Prix Médicis winner)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Poetic, precise proseFragmentary and tightly controlled structureA sensibility that juxtaposes stillness and violence
Recurring Motifs
The body and eating (meat)Mourning and memoryMotif of whiteness and colorsSilence and voice

Health

  • Migraines
    生涯を通じて断続的に発症
    Experiences periodic migraines; she has said they affect her writing rhythm but also keep her humble.

Legacy

One of the foremost contemporary Korean writers to gain international recognition. With the global success of The Vegetarian and her 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, her poetic engagement with historical trauma and human fragility has been widely acknowledged.

Academic Societies

  • Royal Society of Literature (International Writer)

In Popular Culture

  • Film adaptations of The Vegetarian and Baby Buddha, and her public role running a bookstore, have contributed to her presence in popular culture.

Quotes

  • "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life"
    Source: Swedish Academy (Nobel Prize citation, 2024) (2024)
  • "I was surprised but honoured."
    Source: Interview after the Nobel award (NobelPrize.org, 2024) (2024)

Trivia

  • The Vegetarian won the International Booker Prize in 2016, the first Korean-language novel to do so.
  • She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024, the first Korean writer and the first female Asian writer to receive the award.
  • Comes from a literary family: her father and brothers are writers.
  • Participated in the Future Library project (delivered a manuscript to be stored until 2114).