Han Kang, author of Booker winner The Vegetarian, whets Koreans’ appetite for literature
‘Now is just the begining’ for K-lit, says novelist who won 2016 Man Booker International Prize; she admits to being overwhelmed by her book’s success in Korean and English
South Korean author Han Kang, whose novel The Vegetarian had sold just 20,000 copies in her home country before it became a candidate for Britain’s prestigious Man Booker International Prize, has urged Koreans to read more.
Han won the prize for fiction this month with the novel, a dark, surreal story about a woman who gives up eating meat and seeks to become a tree.
“There are many writers whom I like and respect, who are quietly, silently writing in their rooms. I hope that you read them as well,” says the soft-spoken Han, 45.
Han, a creative writing instructor in Seoul who shared the prize with the British woman who translated the book, Deborah Smith, has been catapulted to literary stardom with the win. While relatively few Korean novels have been big sellers overseas, the country’s cultural exports, from music and movies to cosmetics and food, are creating a global buzz.
The Vegetarian sold about 20,000 copies in Korean from its 2007 publication to early this year, before its inclusion on the long list for the international prize, awarded to a work of fiction translated into English and published in Britain.