South Korean author Han Kang has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Mats Malm, the permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy’s Nobel Committee, made the announcement in Stockholm on Thursday (10).
Han, 53, becomes the first South Korean writer and the 18th woman to receive this prestigious award. Malm shared that he spoke with Han after the announcement, catching her during an ordinary evening. “She was having an ordinary day it seemed – had just finished supper with her son. She wasn’t really prepared for this.”
In response, Han said, “I’m so surprised and honoured. I’d like to have tea with my son. I’ll celebrate it quietly.”
“I’m so surprised and honoured.”
2024 literature laureate Han Kang had just finished dinner with her son at her home in Seoul when she received the news of her #NobelPrize. We spoke to her – moments after she found out about the prize – about growing up with books, being the… pic.twitter.com/lZwdBgRwI8
— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 10, 2024
Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised her for the “physical empathy for the vulnerable, often female lives” of her characters. Anna-Karin Palm, a committee member, noted that Han’s writing addresses trauma, pain, and loss—both personal and collective—”with the same compassion and care.” She also lauded Han’s lyrical prose as “both tender and brutal.”
Han’s international breakthrough came with her 2007 novel The Vegetarian, which told the unsettling story of a woman whose decision to stop eating meat leads to devastating consequences. Her 2014 novel Human Acts addressed South Korea’s violent political history, giving voice to the victims of the Gwangju massacre in 1980, a traumatic event in the author’s own hometown.
The Nobel Prize, which carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million), will be presented to Han on December 10. In the past, the prize has been male-dominated, with the last woman winner being France’s Annie Ernaux in 2022.
Han’s father, Han Seung-won, is also a renowned novelist. Han began her career in 1993, and her body of work is known for its “double exposure of pain” and the exploration of the relationship between physical and mental torment, often drawing on Eastern philosophical thinking.
Han Kang is now the second South Korean Nobel laureate, following former President Kim Dae-jung, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.
