South Korean author Han Kang wins Nobel Literature Prize 2024
The announcement was made by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm today (10 October)
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, making her the 18th woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The announcement was made by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm today (10 October).
Han Kang, born in 1970 in Gwangju, South Korea, later moved to Seoul at the age of nine with her family.
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Coming from a literary background, her father, Han Seung-won, is also a well-known novelist. Alongside her career as an author, Han Kang has pursued art and music, which have deeply influenced her literary works.
Han Kang's major international breakthrough came with the novel "The Vegetaria". Written in three parts, the book portrays the violent consequences that ensue when its protagonist Yeong-hye refuses to submit to the norms of food intake.
Han Kang's work is characterised by a double exposure of pain, a correspondence between mental and physical torment with close connections to Eastern thinking.
The Nobel Literature Prize is one of the six prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel, awarded annually by the Swedish Academy. Previous winners include notable figures such as Bob Dylan, Toni Morrison, and Winston Churchill.
This year's announcement marks the fourth Nobel Prize awarded this week, following honors in chemistry, physics, and medicine. The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Friday (11 October), with the economics award set for Monday (14 October).
