South Korean writer Han Kang wins the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature

The South Korean author Han Kang, author of novels and poems, won the Nobel Prize in Literature this Thursday for “her intense poetic prose, which confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”announced the Swedish academy.

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Han Kang, 53, is the first South Korean to receive the prestigious literature award.

Parallel to writing, the author dedicated herself to art and music, which is reflected in her entire literary work.

“Han Kang’s work is characterized by this double exposure of pain, a correspondence between mental torment and physical torment, in close relationship with Eastern thought”specified the Swedish academy.

The author, born on November 27, 1970 in Gwanju, South Korea, has “a unique awareness of the relationships between body and soul, the living and the dead and, due to her poetic and experimental style, is considered innovative in the field of contemporary prose,” declared the president of the Nobel Committee, Anders Olsson, before the press.

Han Kang became internationally known with his novel ‘The Vegetarian’ (2007). Written in three parts, the work describes the violent consequences of its protagonist, Yeong-hye,’s refusal to eat meat, which provokes the brutal rejection of his environment.

The other South Korean who was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize was former president (1998 to 2003) Kim Dae-Jung in 2000 for “his work for peace and reconciliation with North Korea.”

Last year, Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse received the prestigious award for letters.

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