Han Kang

Han Kang was born in Gwangju, South Korea, less than two decades after the end of the Korean War (and just 10 years before the events of the novel). Han’s father, Han Seung-won, was a celebrated novelist in the 1950s and 1960s who worked as a creative writing teacher in Gwangju before moving with his family to Seoul in late 1979. It was during Han’s high school and college years in Seoul that she started to follow in her father’s footsteps, writing poetry and her debut novel, A Love of Yeosu (1995). After achieving widespread popularity in Korea, Han rose to international fame with her novel The Vegetarian, written in 2007 and translated to English in 2016, when it won the Man Booker prize. Han, who also works as a musician, sculptor, and non-fiction essayist, currently lives and teaches writing in Seoul.