Han Kang, a 53-year-old South Korean novelist, made history as the first Korean writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. She also became the first Asian woman to win the prestigious award in its 123-year history.

Han Kang’s Nobel Prize win marks South Korea's second Nobel laureate after the late President Kim Dae-jung, who won the Peace Prize in 2000.

On the 10th, the Swedish Academy announced Han Kang as the recipient of this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature. According to the Academy, Han received the news while having dinner with her son, and she was reportedly taken by surprise.

Mats Malm, Permanent Secretary of the Swedish Academy, shared that he spoke with Han after the announcement. "She seemed to be having a normal day. She had just finished dinner with her son," he noted.

Han Kang's victory also marks a milestone as the first Nobel Literature Prize awarded to a female writer from Asia. The last time a writer from an Asian country won the prize was in 2012 when China’s Mo Yan was awarded. Han is also the 18th female writer in history to win the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Han Kang had already elevated Korean literature's global standing through her works, such as The Vegetarian, a series of novels that brought her widespread international recognition. In 2016, she became the first Korean author to win the Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian, which is one of the world’s three major literary awards, alongside the Nobel and the Goncourt Prize.

Now, with the Nobel Prize in Literature added to her accolades, Han Kang is undoubtedly a towering figure in global literature.

The Associated Press remarked that Han Kang’s Nobel Prize win highlights Korea’s growing cultural influence worldwide, mentioning filmmaker Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning film Parasite, Netflix’s Squid Game, and the global success of K-pop groups like BTS and BLACKPINK.

Born in November 1970 in Gwangju, South Korea, Han Kang comes from a literary family. Her father, Han Seung-won, is a renowned novelist known for works such as Aze Aze Baraze, People of Saettemal, and Donghakje.

After moving to Seoul, Han attended Pungmoon Girls' High School and graduated with a degree in Korean Literature from Yonsei University. She worked as a journalist for the magazine Ssamtoh and began her literary career in 1993 when she published poetry in the winter edition of Literature and Society. She made her debut as a novelist in 1994, winning the Seoul Shinmun Spring Literary Contest for her short story The Scarlet Anchor.

Since then, Han Kang has published a wide range of works, including Love in Yeosu, The Black Deer, Fruits of My Woman, Your Cold Hands, The Wind Blows, You Go, and Greek Lessons. She is recognized for her poetic and lyrical prose, which explores universal themes such as death and violence.

Her critically acclaimed novels The Boy is Coming, which deals with the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, and We Do Not Part, which portrays the tragedy of the 1948 Jeju Uprising through the perspectives of three women, have shaped her unique narrative style that confronts Korea’s dark modern history.

Apart from novels, Han has also published poetry collections such as I Put the Evening in the Drawer and children's books including My Name is Sunflower and The Box of Tears, as well as essay collections like A Song Called Quietly and Love and the Surrounding Things.

Throughout her career, Han has won numerous prestigious literary awards, including the Yi Sang Literary Award, Dong-ni Literature Prize, Manhae Literary Prize, Hwang Soon-won Literature Award, and Kim Yoo-jeong Literary Award.

Internationally, she won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for The Vegetarian, which included Mongolian Mark and Flame of the Tree. In 2023, she won the Médicis Prize for Foreign Literature for her novel We Do Not Part.

The Nobel Prize comes with a monetary award of 11 million Swedish kronor (approximately 1.34 billion Korean won), along with a medal and a diploma. The Nobel ceremony will be held on December 10 in Stockholm, Sweden.

The Swedish Academy described Han’s literary world as one that "confronts historical trauma and reveals the fragility of human life with powerful poetic prose." They highlighted Han’s works for their confrontation of invisible oppression, her unique perception of the connections between body and soul, and the living and the dead, all expressed through her innovative, poetic prose style.