| Han Kang | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 0, 1970 |
| Occupation | Novelist |
| Nationality | South Korea |
| Period | 1970-present |
Han Kang (born 1970) (Hangul: 한강) is a South Korean writer. She was born in Kwangju in 1960 and studied Korean literature at Yonsei University. She began her writing career when one of her poems was featured in the winter issue of the quarterly Literature and Society. She made her official literary debut in the following year when her short story "The Scarlet Anchor" was the winning entry in the daily Seoul Shinmun spring literary contest. Since then, she has gone on to win the Yi Sang Literary Prize (2005), Today's Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. Currently she teaches creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.
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Han Kang is the daughter of novelist Han Seung-won[1] and she took her pen-name in reference to the Han River which flows through downtown Seoul. Her debut work, A Convict's Love, was published in 1995 and attracted attention because it was precisely and tightly narrated.[2] Han wrote The Vegetarian, and its sister-work, Mongolian Mark by hand, as overuse of the computer keyboard had damaged her wrist. The Vegetarian is a collection of three linked novellas: The Vegetarian,[3] Mongolian Mark, and Fire Tree. In her college years Kang became obsessed with a line of poetry from Yi Sang: "I believe that humans should be plants."[1] Kang interpreted this to be a defensive stance against the violence of the colonial period and took this as an inspiration to write her most successful work, The Vegetarian. The Vegetarian was turned into a movie that was one of only 14 selections (out of 1,022 submissions) for inclusion in the World Narrative Competition of the prestigious North American Film Fest. The film was also a critical success at the Pusan International Film Festival.[4]
In 2005 Mongolian Mark won the Lee Sang Literature Award although the rest of the series The Vegetarian and Fire Tree were written were delayed by contractual problems[1] Han's work is suffused with a tragic sense and Han herself has noted that her greatest pleasure as a writer is when her work makes her readers sad. Her novella Little Buddha also won the Korean Literature Award.[5]
Dark Deer (Geomeun Saeseum, 1998)
Your Cold Hands (Geudae-ui Chagaun Son, 2002)
The Story of a Crimson Flower (Bulgeunkkot Iyagi, 2003)
A Convict's Love (Yeosu-ui Sarang, 1995)
The Fruit of My Woman (Nae Yeoja-ui Yeolmae, 2000)