[News Today] HAN KANG RECEIVES NOBEL PRIZE

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Writer Han Kang elevated the status of Korean literature by becoming the first Korean to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. Following the award ceremony, Han Kang emphasized the power of literature in her acceptance speech at a banquet.

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Soundbytes: Dear Han Kang, may I now please ask you to step forward.

Ellen Mattson, a member of the Swedish Academy, calls out Han Kang's name.

Wearing a black dress, Han stands in front of the Swedish king.

He presents her with a Nobel medal and diploma.

The diploma for the Nobel Prize in Literature is written on parchment, adding a special touch.

When introducing the Korean writer, Mattson, who participated in the selection of the prize winner, stressed that the white and red colors in Han's works "symbolize a historical experience that she returns to" in her novels.

She added, " The dream spills over into reality, the past into the present. These shifts, by which boundaries are dissolved, are a constant in Han’s writing," adding that the characters in Han's works, though wounded and fragile, possess enough strength to move forward.

At a press conference last week, Han condemned the martial law declaration in Korea.

Han Kang / Nobel Literature Prize Winner (Dec. 6, press conference)
I hope we will not go back to when violence and repression were used to silence people.

A banquet was held at the Stockholm City Hall for some 1,300 dignitaries and laureates. They included the Swedish king and members of the Nobel Foundation and the Swedish Academy.

Publishers who introduced Han's works overseas as well as Swedish language translators also attended the event to celebrate her feat.

Han Kang / Nobel Literature Prize Winner
In the darkest night, there is language that asks what we are made of, that insists on imagining into the first person perspectives of the people and living beings that inhabit this planet; language that connects us one another.