Han Kang

Facts

Photo of Han Kang

© Nobel Prize Outreach. Photo: Clément Morin

Han Kang
Nobel Prize in Literature 2024

Born: 27 November 1970, Gwangju, South Korea

Residence at the time of the award: Seoul, South Korea

Prize motivation: “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”

Language: Korean

Prize share: 1/1

Work

Han Kang began her career in 1993 as a poet, but has since written mainly novels and short stories. In her oeuvre, she confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life. She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose. Among her works are The Vegetarian, Human Acts and We Do Not Part.

To cite this section
MLA style: Han Kang – Facts – 2024. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach 2025. Fri. 5 Dec 2025. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2024/han/facts/>

Book tips

Discover the works of Han Kang

Curious about 2024 literature laureate Han Kang but unsure which of her books to pick up first? Here Steve Sem-Sandberg from the Swedish Academy gives his recommendations.

A collection of books

Books by Han Kang.

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