Han Kang is a South Korean writer of eight novels, three short story collections and one poetry collection, to date. She was born in Gwangju and grew up in Suyuri. Han is a graduate of Yonsei University where she studied Korean literature and in 1998 was a student at the University of Iowa International Writing Program (Han, nd.). Some of her works have now been widely translated, while others are available only in the original Korean. Her most widely translated work,

The Vegetarian

, won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for Fiction in its English translation by Deborah Smith (2015). Two further book-length works have since been translated into English by Smith:

Human Acts

in 2016, and

The White Book

in 2017, also shortlisted for the Man Booker International.

Prose Form

Prose Form

2996 words

Citation: Myler, Kerry. "Han Kang". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 October 2021 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=14035, accessed 25 November 2024.]

14035 Han Kang 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.