In an interview with Swedish public television broadcaster SVT, this year's Nobel Prize laureate in literature Han Kang said that she "doesn't want to be in the spotlight right now." "I would like to live in peace quietly, and I need some time to reflect on what this prize means," Han told SVT. According to the SVT report on Sunday, the interview took place at Han's home in Seoul and was conducted in English. Regarding initial reports about her father's co

Books Oct. 16, 2024

In the wake of Han Kang’s Nobel Prize in literature win, new policies and laws are being discussed to foster future literary talents like Han. Culture Minister Yu In-chon said that next year’s budget for the publishing sector has been restored to its 2022 level, adding that it increased by approximately 3 billion won ($2.2 million) compared to this year. Speaking at the 38th annual Book Day ceremony on Friday, Yu called Han’s achievement “an unparalleled honor both person

Books Oct. 14, 2024

Han Kang's Nobel Prize win Thursday brought the recognition Koreans have long sought: For decades Koreans have been fixated on the question of when Korea would win a Nobel Prize in literature. As novelist Kim Young-ha noted in his message of congratulations, the question of whether the Korean language, once threatened with extinction during the Japanese colonial era, could find its rightful place in world literature has haunted the collective consciousness of Koreans since liberation. The w

Books Oct. 13, 2024

Author Han Kang's unpublished manuscript which has been sealed and locked away in Oslo, Norway is getting renewed attention following her Nobel Prize in literature win. The manuscript is shrouded in mystery -- its content, length and format unknown -- only its title, “Dear Son, My Beloved,” has been revealed. The manuscript is part of the Future Library art project launched by Katie Paterson in Norway in 2014. Each year, a writer is invited to contribute a manuscript that explor

Books Oct. 13, 2024

Han Kang, the first South Korean and Asian female writer to be decorated with the Nobel Prize in literature, spoke officially for the first time late Friday evening through her publishers, expressing shock and gratitude towards “enormous waves” of congratulations from across the world. “I am grateful for being chosen as the laureate. The amount of warm words of congratulations that poured in throughout the day like an enormous wave surprised me,” said Han in a statement r

Books Oct. 11, 2024

The 2024 Nobel Prize winner in literature, Han Kang has reportedly expressed that she will not be holding a press conference, according to her father, novelist Han Seung-won. According to media reports, Han Seung-won met with local reporters at his home in Jangheung County, South Jeolla Province, where he said, "I initially advised her to choose one of her publishers and hold a press conference, and she agreed. However, when we spoke again this morning (Friday), she told me she had changed

Books Oct. 11, 2024

Korean novelist Han Seung-won, father of the country’s first Nobel laureate in literature, said Friday that he felt “as if the world had been turned on its head” upon hearing his daughter's win. Speaking from his home in Jangheung, South Jeolla Province, Han shared his reaction during a local radio interview. “I was stunned, and it didn’t feel real,” he said. “There have been many instances where the Nobel committee selects someone very unexpected.

Books Oct. 11, 2024

South Korean novelist Han Kang, who won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, said she will "celebrate quietly tonight" having tea with her son. "I'm so surprised and I'm absolutely honored," Han said in a phone interview with the Swedish Academy in a video released shortly after the winning announcement. Speaking in English, Han said she had just finished dinner with her son at home in Seoul, and they were both very surprised by the news. "I didn

Books Oct. 11, 2024

Winning the Nobel Prize in literature means that Han Kang and her works are now acknowledged, legitimized and confirmed forever in the canon of the greatest writers and books ever published in the world, said Barbara J. Zitwer in an interview with The Korea Herald on Thursday. Zitwer, the founder of her eponymous New York-based literary agency, is one of the pioneers in introducing Korean literature abroad. As the agent who championed "The Vegetarian," she previously mentioned in the previous in

Books Oct. 10, 2024

The first South Korean and the first Asian woman Nobel laureate in literature, Han Kang was born in November 1970 in Gwangju, a city in southwestern South Korea. When she was nine, Han's family moved to Seoul where she would go on to study Korean literature at Yonsei University. Her family is a literary one -- her father is the well-known novelist Han Seung-won and her older brother is also a writer. Her literary career began in 1993 when several of her poems were published in the winter ed

Books Oct. 10, 2024

South Korean author Han Kang has won this year's Nobel Prize in literature, becoming the first South Korean to be honored with one of the world's most prestigious literary awards. The Swedish Academy's Nobel Committee announced the winner Thursday in Stockholm. Han was recognized “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life,” said Mats Malm, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy. The committee said that &q

Books Oct. 10, 2024

BUSAN -- The Busan International Performing Arts Market (BPAM) concluded its five-day run Tuesday in the southern harbor city. The marketplace, organized by the Busan Cultural Foundation, aims to facilitate the domestic and international distribution of various performance genres, including dance, theater, music and multidisciplinary art. The event drew more than 300 industry professionals and 700 artists from 37 countries, including executives and programmers from major international festivals

Performance Oct. 9, 2024

Busan -- With the opening of a classical concert hall and an opera house next year, Busan is gearing up to position itself as an international city for the performing arts, said Lee Mee-yeon, CEO of the Busan Cultural Foundation. Speaking at the Busan International Performing Arts Market, now in its second year, Lee expressed her hopes for the event’s growing impact. “Many works produced in Busan are often confined only locally. That’s why we launched BPAM last year -- to promo

Performance Oct. 9, 2024

Three French architects -- Anne Lacaton, Jean Philippe Vassal and Jean-Michel Wilmotte -- shared their core philosophies that have guided their decades-long careers during an architecture roundtable and Q&A following their presentations at the Herald Design Forum 2024, held in Seoul, on Tuesday. “The most important thing will be for whom we are doing this work,” said Lacaton, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect who received the award with Vassal in 2021. “Architecture is a

Arts & Design Oct. 9, 2024

“The 63 Building is a major landmark in Seoul. It will soon become an icon that promotes the Centre Pompidou Seoul," said Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the celebrated French architect, during a session at the Herald Design Forum 2024. The 76-year-old architect -- with three offices in Paris, one in Nice, two in Italy, one in London and one in Seoul -- has been chosen to refurbish 15,000 square meters of the Yeouido skyscraper, from the underground level to the fourth floor above ground, for t

Arts & Design Oct. 9, 2024