It's often the case that when poets write novels, they deliver arrestingly vivid and nimble prose. Han Kang's The Vegetarian (2007) is a case in point, and it is no doubt the work that was most influential in the Swedish Academy's decision to award her the Nobel prize in literature 2024. The committee stated that Kang was awarded the prestigious prize because her 'poetic and experimental style' has made her 'an innovator in contemporary prose'. Han Kang is the first South Korean writer to be awarded the Nobel prize in literature, and in its history of 121 winners over 117 years, only the 18th woman to be awarded the prize. She was born in 1970 in Gwangju and has also been awarded the International Booker Prize (in 2016), as well as several other high profile national and international awards, including the Prix Medicis Etranger in 2023 for her novel Impossible Goodbyes. The Vegetarian is Han Kang's best-read work. Published in 2007, and translated into English for publication in the...
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