Contents
Han Kang
Writing The Vegetarian and Human Acts, exploring violence, memory and human vulnerability.
The Vegetarian · Human Acts
- Born
- 27 November 1970
- Birthplace
- Gwangju, South Korea
More people
Han Kang
Han Kang is a South Korean novelist and poet who received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. Her fiction connects bodily experience with personal and historical trauma.
Early life
A writing family
Born in Gwangju to a family that included novelist Han Seung-won, she moved to Seoul as a child.
Literature studies
Studied Korean literature at Yonsei University and began publishing poetry and fiction in the 1990s.
Career
- 1993–1994
Literary beginnings
Published poems and then short fiction.
- 2007
The Vegetarian
Published the novel that later brought her a large international readership.
- 2016
International Booker
The Vegetarian won the prize, shared with translator Deborah Smith.
- 2024
Literature Nobel
Became the first South Korean writer to receive the literature prize.
Selected books
The Vegetarian
Explored a woman’s refusal to eat meat and the pressures placed on her body and choices.
Human Acts
Examined the 1980 Gwangju massacre and its lasting human consequences.
We Do Not Part
Explored memory and the aftermath of violence on Jeju Island.
Beyond writing
Teaching
Taught creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.
Other art forms
Has also worked with music and visual art, interests reflected in the textures of her writing.
Sources & photo credit
Life, career and references ↗Nobel Prize biography and award ↗Nobel literary biography ↗Photo: John Sears. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.
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