Culture | The record books

Han Kang wins the Nobel prize in literature for 2024

The South Korean author offers another example of the country’s cultural clout

Portrait of author Han Kang.
Photograph: Alamy

HAN KANG has been called “Korea’s Kafka”. Rather than giant bugs, her metamorphoses involve vegetation. “The Fruit of My Woman”, a short story, imagines a wife becoming a (withered) houseplant. “The Vegetarian”, a prizewinning novel, depicts a woman consumed by her desire to sprout roots and become a tree.

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