South Korean writer and translator, Han Kang, has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature for ‘her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life’. This marks Kang as the first South Korean person to win the literature prize, and has thus fuelled great pride in the East Asian country. Her success has been celebrated by many including South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk Yeol, stating this as a ‘great achievement in the history of Korean literature’.
Kang’s intense lyrical writing serves as a tool to confront historical traumas of South Korea and reveals the vulnerability of humans. Among her works are The Vegetarian, winner of the 2016 International Booker Prize, Human Acts and We Do Not Part. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University and began her literary journey with her poetry debut of five works including Winter in Seoul. Kang published her first short story collection in 1995 entitled Yeosu and has carried on to win numerous literary awards both nationally and internationally.
We, as a Southeast Asian premier literary festival, are proud to celebrate the recognition of South Korean writer Han Kang with the Nobel Prize in Literature, highlighting the growing influence of East Asian voices in global literature.
SOUTH KOREAN WRITERS AT THE 2024 FESTIVAL
At our 2024 Festival, between 23–27 October, we are welcoming two distinguished South Korean writers and translators, Bora Chung and Anton Hur. Hur has translated Chung’s Your Utopia and Cursed Bunny, as well as her highly anticipated works for 2025: The Midnight Timetable and Red Sword.
You can find Bora Chung at her upcoming sessions in our main program: Bora Chung: Your Utopia, ‘Speculative Fiction: From Utopian to Dystopian,’ and ‘Feminism in Asia: On the Ground and on the Page.’ She will share her personal experience as a feminist writer and activist, explore defying the bounds and expectations of genre in her work, discuss the rise of speculative fiction in literature, and provide insights into the complexities of feminism across Asia.
Anton Hur will appear in the sessions ‘Anton Hur: Toward Eternity – A Novel,’ where he delves into the inspiration behind his unforgettable exploration of the human experience in his debut novel, Toward Eternity; and ‘Breaking Through: The Debut Novel,’ a panel discussing the challenges of being a breakthrough novelist. He will also be hosting ‘The Pitch: A Masterclass for Translators.’ In this masterclass, Hur will guide participants through pitching translation projects to authors or publishers.
