The Swedish Academy, organiser of the Nobel Prize, awarded South Korean writer Han Kang with the Nobel Prize for Literature on the 10th of October. Han’s name now joins the list that features world-famous Irish writers such as W.B. Yeats, Samuel Beckett or Seamus Heaney. Han has previously won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016 for her novel The Vegetarian.
Mats Malm, the permanent secretary of the Academy stated that Han received the Prize “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
Anders Olsson, chair of the Nobel committee which presents the nominations to the Academy, said that Han’s writing “has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in her poetic and experimental style has become an innovator in contemporary prose.”
The Prize will be awarded in Stockholm in December, with the laureate receiving about 1 million euros or 11 million Swedish krona.
Han is the first South Korean writer to have received the Nobel Prize and is the 18th woman to join the laureates’ list. She is also one of the youngest writers ever to receive the award.
Han was chosen from an initial long list of 15-20 writers and consequently from a short list of 5 writers. Han’s win comes as a surprise as Can Xue, a Chinese avant-garde writer, was the predicted winner.
It is notable that both favourites this year are of East Asian descent. As the New York Times reports, the Academy has tried to increase the diversity of its selected authors in recent years, as it faced criticism for a low number of female or non-Western laureates.
As reported by Reuters, Han stated that she was “so surprised and … absolutely I’m honoured”. When asked about her celebrations she remarked that she would be celebrating with her family, “After this phone call I’d like to have tea with – I don’t drink so – I’m going to have tea with my son and I’ll celebrate it quietly tonight.”
Though no Irish writer was featured on the lists of predicted winners this year, Edna O’Brien has been a long-time favourite among potential Nobel Prize laureates, her recent passing, however, has ended the speculations. John Banville and Anne Enright have also been potential contenders in past years.
Han has published The Vegetarian, Greek Lessons, The White Book and Human Acts: A Novel with her next novel, We Do Not Part set to come out in 2025.
