Grapevine

By Al Jazeera
Oct 10, 2024

South Korean author Han Kang wins 2024 Nobel Prize in literature

The first South Korean to win the literature prize said she would ‘celebrate it quietly’ and have tea with her son.

South Korean author Han Kang has won the 2024 Nobel Prize in literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life”.

Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy’s Nobel Committee, announced the prize in Stockholm on Thursday.

Han, 53, is the first South Korean writer and 18th woman to win the Nobel Literature Prize.

Malm said he was able to talk to Han by phone after announcing her as the winner. “She was having an ordinary day it seemed – had just finished supper with her son. She wasn’t really prepared for this.”