What To Read

This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to the prolific author Han Kang, “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” In Stockholm this morning, the Nobel committee bestowed the coveted prize to the 53-year-old South Korean.

This is the complete list of Han Kang's works available in English translation. Get started reading your way through this winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Winner of the 2016 International Booker Prize and one of The New York Times's 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

"One ordinary day, a young housewife in contemporary Seoul wakes up from a disturbing dream and simply decides to … stop eating meat. As her small rebellion spirals, Han’s lean, feverish novel becomes a surreal meditation on not just what the body needs, but what a soul demands." --The New York Times Book Review

Greek Lessons by Han Kang

A critically-adored story about the bond between a blind teacher and a woman losing her voice

"An extraordinary and dense novel that offers up new depths on each reading. It is short – 160 pages – which means you can read and reread it in a day if you want to. I have a soft spot for short novels – their intensity, their skill in delivering something sharp and true in a few breaths – but the bias is irrelevant because it does what all good novels do: it invites the reader into a world that reaches well beyond the confines of its pages." -- The Guardian

Human Acts by Han Kang

An unflinching account of a violent political uprising

"Pristine, expertly paced, and gut-wrenching... Human Acts grapples with the fallout of a massacre and questions what humans are willing to die for and in turn what they must live through. Kang approaches these difficult and inexorable queries with originality and fearlessness, making Human Acts a must-read." -- Chicago Review of Books

The White Book Han Kang

A 2018 Booker International Prize Finalist

"An unnamed narrator moves to a European city where she is haunted by the story of her older sister, who died a mere two hours after birth. As she contemplates the child’s short life she focuses on whiteness and all it symbolises. The White Book is a meditation on colour, beginning with a list of white things. It is a book about mourning, rebirth and the tenacity of the human spirit." -- The Booker Prize

We Do Not Part by Han Kang

Pre-order Kang's forthcoming novel due in January 2025

"Indelible. . . a meticulously rendered portrait of friendship, mother-daughter love, and hope in the face of profound loss. Kang is at the top of her game." --Publishers Weekly