Which books has Han Kang written? Nobel Prize for Literature goes to South Korean author for 'intense poetic prose'

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South Korean author Han Kang has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature “for her intense, poetic prose”.

The prize award was announced by Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy’s Nobel Committee, in Stockholm on Thursday, October 10.

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Kang has become of only 17 women to win a Nobel Prize for Literature, out of 119 recipients. The committee has also garnered criticism for being too European and North American centric in awarding its prizes.

Kang is a celebrated author who scooped the International Booker Prize in 2016 for her novel The Vegetarian. Arguably her best-known book to-date and the first to be translated into England, The Vegetarian focus on a woman’s decision to stop eating meat and the devastating consequences this has on her life.

Here are some of the other novels she has written that is available translated to English:

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Greek Lessons

Originally published in Korea in 2011, Greek Lesson received an English-language release more than ten years later in 2023. It follows the story of a recently mute woman who is taking classes in ancient Greek to attempt to reclaim language and her developing relationship with her teacher.

Human Acts

Human Acts focuses on the student-led democratisation uprisings which took place in the city of Gwangju in 1980. The real historical event provides the backdrop for a story about the shocking death of a young boy and how it impacts the lives of people in the city throughout the uprising.

The novel became Kang’s breakout hit, winning the Manhae Prize for Literature in Korea and the Italian Malaparte Prize.

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The White Book

The White Book is a 2016 novel for which Kang received her second International Booker Prize shortlist nomination for in 2018. Released in 2016, the novel, set in World War II Poland, features mediations on items of the colour white, including sugar cubes, breast milk, rice and blank paper, to explore themes of grief and loss.

Throughout the story, a nameless narrator grapples with a tragedy that has haunted her family, and which she interoperates through the mediation on white items.

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