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| ▲ South Korean author Han Kang. (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This Nov. 14, 2023, file photo shows South Korean author Han Kang, the 2024 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Nobel Prize-S Korean author
(LEAD) S. Korean author Han Kang wins Nobel literature prize
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SEOUL, Oct. 10 (Yonhap) -- Author Han Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday, becoming the first South Korean to get the honor.
The Swedish Academy announced Han as this year's laureate, recognizing the 53-year-old "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life."
Han is the first Asian female winner in literature and the second South Korean Nobel laureate after former President Kim Dae-jung, who was awarded the peace prize in 2000.
"In her oeuvre, Han Kang confronts historical traumas and in each of her works exposes the fragility of human life," the Nobel committee said. "She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead, and in a poetic and experimental style, has become an innovator in contemporary prose."
Each Nobel Prize is worth 11 million Swedish crowns (US$1.1 million).
The Swedish Academy recognizes achievements in literature, science, medicine, economics and peace. The prizes were created through the will of Swedish scientist and businessman Alfred Nobel and have been awarded since 1901, with the economics prize being a later addition.
Han first shot to fame by winning the Man Booker International Prize for fiction in 2016 for "The Vegetarian." Her Nobel Prize is expected to catapult Han further into the international spotlight.
Previous laureates include American novelist Ernest Hemingway, English author Rudyard Kipling, Irish playwright Bernard Shaw, French writer Albert Camus and Colombian novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez. In 2016, American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan became the first musician to win the award.
The Nobel Prize award ceremony takes place at the Stockholm Concert Hall in the Swedish capital each Dec. 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
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