South Korean writer Han Kang has been announced to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for the year 2024. This honor has been given for her poetic prose. Her books include ‘The Vegetarian, The White Book, Human Acts and Greek Lessons.
She is the second South Korean to win the Nobel Prize after former President Kim Dae-Jung. President Kim Dae-Jung was conferred the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.Han Kang will receive her 11 million Kroner prize at a ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on 10 December 2024, Alfred Nobel’s death anniversary.
Nobel Prize winner Han Kang
- The 2016 International Booker Prize-winning novelist Han Kang was selected by the Swedish Academy “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
- 53-year-old Han Kang, who writes in Korean, published her first poems in a magazine in 1993 and her first short story collection in 1995.
- Her novel ‘The Vegetarian’ brought her international recognition and the 2016 International Booker Prize.
- Her important works include Your Cold Hands, Greek Lessons, Human Acts, The White Book, etc.
Women Literature Prize winner
- Han Kang is the 18th Woman to be honoured with the Nobel Prize in Literature.
- The first woman to win the Literature Prize was Selma Lagerlof of Sweden in 1909.
Nobel Prize in Literature
- The Nobel Foundation instituted the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1900, as per Alfred Nobel’s will, and the first prize was given in 1901.
- The first person to be honoured with the prize was Sully Prudhomme of France in 1901.
- The 2023 prize was awarded to Jon Olav Fosse of Norway.
- Between 1901 to 2024, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded 117 times to 121 persons.
Indian Nobel Prize Winner in Literature
- Rabindranath Tagore was the first Asian and Indian to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913). He is the only Indian to receive the prize.