[News Today] HAN KANG’S LITERARY WORLD

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Author Han Kang was also the recipient of the International Booker Prize for 'The Vegetarian'. Ever since, she's been sweeping international literary awards, establishing her works as a global bridge for South Korean literature. Today, we look back on her works.

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Author Han Kang began her novelist career with her first short story in 1994.

The story tackling the topic of human violence has been viewed as soothing the wounded soul.

Han Kang/ Writer (KBS News interview in 2021)
Pain, overwhelming pain, was the paramount emotion I felt. I cried nearly everyday writing the story.

In the book, Han used her trademark lyrical language to address universal values.

Her well known work 'The Vegetarian' tells the story of a woman who refuses to eat meat and faces a destructive demise, in a uniquely powerful way.

For the work, she became the first South Korean to win the prestigious Man Booker International Prize now renamed the International Booker Prize.

Later, she wrote 'We Do Not Part', ('I Do Not Bid Farewell') in her characteristic, restrained expressive style. It confronts a painful chapter in Korean history, the Jeju April 3 incident, and she went on to win the French Prix Medicis for foreign literature award.

Her steady publication has led to the ultimate honor of becoming the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Many hope the achievement will lead to notable changes in how Korean literature is perceived.