Han Kang's Nobel Prize was a surprise to many in South Korea. Here's what you need to know about 'her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life'

As the Nobel Committee gets ready to admit a new writer into the pantheon, our critic asks: Is greatness overrated?

Han Kang has won the Nobel Prize for literature, the Swedish Academy announced Thursday, for “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” She is the first writer from South Korea to be awarded the literature prize.

The 2024 Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to Han Kang, a South Korean author, for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

South Koreans have reacted with joy and astonishment after learning that homegrown writer Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature, an unexpected moment that stoked national pride about the country’s growing cultural influence.

A uthor Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for her “intense poetic prose” on Oct. 10, per a press release by The Royal Swedish Academy.

STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Nobel Prize in literature was awarded Thursday to South Korean author Han Kang for what the Nobel committee called “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”

H AN KANG has been called “Korea’s Kafka”. Rather than giant bugs, her metamorphoses involve vegetation. “The Fruit of My Woman”, a short story, imagines a wife becoming a (withered) houseplant. “The Vegetarian”, a prizewinning novel, depicts a woman consumed by her desire to sprout roots and become a tree.