The 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to South Korean author Han Kang “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Kang’s deep physical empathy for extreme life stories is enhanced by her increasingly charged metaphorical style.
Kang began her literary career in 1993 with poems published in the magazine **문학과사회** (Literature and Society). Her prose debut followed in 1995 with the short story collection **여수의 사랑** (Love of Yeosu), soon leading to several other prose works, including novels and additional short stories.
Born in 1970 in Gwangju, South Korea, Kang hails from a literary family, with her father being a respected novelist. Alongside her writing, she has dedicated herself to art and music, themes that resonate throughout her literary oeuvre.
Last year, the literature prize was awarded to Norwegian author Jon Olav Fosse for his “innovative plays and prose which give voice to the unsayable.”
The prize is valued at 10 million Swedish krona (approximately $915,000) and is widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious literary accolade. Since 1901, the Nobel Prize has recognized achievements in the sciences, literature, and peace, established by the will of Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.