Han Kang is first South Korean to win Man Booker International Prize, sharing literature award with translator
South Korean author Han Kang won the Man Booker International Prize on Monday, sharing the £50,000 ($72,000, 63,500 euros) award with her translator - who had only taught herself Korean three years before.
Han Kang, 45, an author and creative writing teacher who is already successful in South Korea, is likely to enjoy a spike in international sales following the win for The Vegetarian, an unsettling tale in which a woman’s decision to stop eating meat has devastating consequences.
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“I’m so honoured” she said. “The work features a protagonist who wants to become a plant, and to leave the human race to save herself from the dark side human nature.
“Through this extreme narrative I felt I could question... the difficult question of being human.”
Described as “lyrical and lacerating” by chairman of the judges Boyd Tonkin, the tale traces the story of an ordinary woman’s rejection of convention from three different perspectives.
It was picked unanimously by the panel of five judges, beating six other novels including The Story of the Lost Child by Italian sensation Elena Ferrante and A Strangeness in My Mind by Turkey’s Orhan Pamuk.