Han Kang wins Nobel Prize in Literature for her 'intense poetic' writing

The Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to South Korean author Han Kang, who was praised for her "intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life".

The 53-year-old South Korean author has written The White Book (Granta Books), Human Acts (Granta Books) and Greek Lessons (Hamish Hamilton). Her most well-known book is The Vegetarian (Granta Books), which was the first book by the author to be translated into English, and for which she was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for in 2016.

Kang is the first South Korean writer to win the prize and has been awarded £811,000 (Kr11m) from the Swedish Acadmey in Stockholm, Sweden.

The author’s latest novel is called We Do Not Part (Hamish Hamilton) and will be published in English in 2025, translated by e yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris.

Last year, the prize was awarded to Norwegian writer Jon Fosse, while Toni Morrison, Doris Lessing and Kazuo Ishiguro have all been recipients in the past.