Han Kang

Han Kang is a South Korean writer. The Vegetarian, her first novel to be translated into English, won the Man Booker International Prize 2016

Born in Gwangju, Han Kang moved to Seoul at the age of ten. She studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. Her writing has won the Yi Sang Literary Prize, the Today’s Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. She is also the author of Human Acts and The White Book. She is based in Seoul. She won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024.

Born: 27 November 1970

Connect

Visit Han Kang's Website Website

Read more on Han Kang

Han Kang interview: 'I never imagined The Vegetarian would find so many readers'

The author of The Vegetarian – and recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature for 2024 – talks about the impact of winning the International Booker Prize in 2016, how the novel has been received worldwide and why it questions what it means to be human

Reading guide: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith

Use our comprehensive reading guide to explore the winner of the International Booker Prize 2016, The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith

An extract from The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith

Read an extract from Han Kang’s 2016 International Booker Prize-winning novel, about our faltering attempts to understand the lives of others

The Booker Prize Podcast, Episode 2: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

In this episode of The Booker Prize Podcast, our hosts revisit the 2016 International Booker Prize-winner The Vegetarian by Han Kang translated by Deborah Smith

Winner The International Booker Prize 2016

The Vegetarian

By: Han Kang
Translated by: Deborah Smith
Published by: Portobello Books

Fraught, disturbing, and beautiful, Han Kang’s novel is about shame and desire, and our faltering attempts to understand the lives of others

Other nominated books

The White Book

Hang Kan investigates the fragility, beauty and strangeness of life in a contemplation of memory, loss and the lives that leave this world before us

Han Kang

Read more on Han Kang

Han Kang interview: 'I never imagined The Vegetarian would find so many readers'

Reading guide: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith

An extract from The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith

The Booker Prize Podcast, Episode 2: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

The Vegetarian

Other nominated books

The White Book

Features

11 of the best very short books from the Booker Library

Why PEN Presents and the International Booker Prize have joined forces to support emerging translators

13 of the best page-turners from the Booker Library

Summer holiday quiz: 30 questions to test your Booker Prizes knowledge

Why fiction from Korea and Japan has become so popular with English-language readers

Han Kang interview: 'I never imagined The Vegetarian would find so many readers'

The Booker Prize Podcast, Episode 2: The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Reading guide: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith

Max Porter on publishing The Vegetarian: 'Everyone agreed that this was an important book'

An extract from The Vegetarian by Han Kang, translated by Deborah Smith

Win a copy of The Vegetarian by Han Kang – and a Booker Prize tote bag

Anton Hur: How I learned the truth about young, open-minded readers of translated fiction

The best International Booker-nominated translated fiction, as chosen by celebrities

Eight essential questions about the International Booker Prize

A glimpse behind the scenes: The Booker Prize at 50

Share this page

Related content

Han Kang interview: 'I never imagined The Vegetarian would find so many readers'