South Korean author Han Kang has been awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature for “her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and reveals the fragility of human existence,” according to the awarding body.
The Swedish Academy administers the prize, which is valued at 11 million Swedish crowns (€1 million).
“She possesses a distinctive awareness of the interplay between body and soul, the living and the dead, and has evolved into an innovator in contemporary prose with her poetic and experimental style,” stated Anders Olsson, chairman of the academy’s Nobel Committee.
Han Kang is the first South Korean to receive this prestigious literature award. She began her literary journey in 1993, publishing several poems in the magazine Literature and Society, while her prose debut came in 1995 with the short story collection ‘Love of Yeosu’.
Leading up to the announcement, bookmaker favorites included Chinese author Can Xue, along with perennial contenders like Kenya’s Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Australia’s Gerald Murnane, and Canada’s Anne Carson.
The literature prize is one of the most accessible of the Nobel awards, often drawing equal parts praise and criticism for the choices made by the Academy.
Many literary enthusiasts have been perplexed by the Academy’s failure to award literary giants such as Russia’s Leo Tolstoy, France’s Emile Zola, and Ireland’s James Joyce over the past century.
The 2016 Nobel Prize awarded to American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was celebrated as a radical rethinking of literature, although it was also interpreted as a snub to authors in more traditional literary fields.
Established through a bequest in the will of Swedish dynamite inventor and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, the prizes for achievements in science, literature, and peace have been awarded since 1901, with the addition of the economics prize occurring later.
Beyond the peace prize, the literature award typically draws the most attention, catapulting authors into the global limelight and resulting in a surge in book sales, although this can be relatively short-lived for those not already widely recognized.
Nonetheless, the prize money and inclusion on a list featuring literary icons such as Irish poet WB Yeats, who won in 1923; American novelist Ernest Hemingway, awarded in 1954; and Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who took the prize in 1982, is a significant opportunity.
In 2023, Norwegian author and playwright Jon Fosse received the award.
The literature prize is the fourth to be announced each year, following those for medicine, physics, and chemistry revealed earlier this week.
What do we know about the prize?
Since its inception in 1901, the Nobel Prize committee has honored a literature winner 116 times, recognizing 120 individuals. Historically, the prize has been male-dominated, with 103 men and only 17 women recognized thus far.
Ms. Kang is now the 18th woman to win the award.
Previous Winners
Recognizable names among previous winners include Bob Dylan, Toni Morrison, and there have been four Irish winners, including George Bernard Shaw, WB Yeats, Samuel Beckett, and most recently, Seamus Heaney in 1995.
Seamus Heaney won in 1995
Last year, Jon Fosse’s win came as a surprise, as his work is rarely translated beyond his substantial Norwegian audience. The Nobel committee praised his extensive bibliography and noted that he provided a “voice to the unsayable.”
Other unexpected winners have emerged over the years.
In 2017, the widely read English-Japanese author Kazuo Ishiguro was an unexpected choice for the prize. The previous year, even fewer anticipated Bob Dylan’s win for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” as the committee acknowledged.
Dylan notably remained silent for several days following the announcement, ultimately opting to post his Nobel lecture on the committee’s website rather than deliver it in person. He also chose not to attend the ceremony to accept his award.
Predictions for this year
The literature prize has often faced critiques for its perceived bias towards European and North American authors who favor style over substance, leading to varied predictions as commentators build anticipation around their favored nominees.
Chinese author Can Xue was once again the frontrunner with bookmakers for the 2024 prize.
Can, at 71, was also a favored candidate for last year’s prize but was narrowly surpassed by Fosse.
Jon Fosse delivers a speech in front of guests of the Nobel Prize Banquet in Stockholm in 2023
Another name frequently mentioned in last year’s predictions was Gerard Murnane, an Australian writer often hailed as the “greatest living English-language writer,” and routinely included in such discussions.
Who selects the winner?
The Swedish Academy is responsible for selecting the winner, consisting of 18 members, while the Nobel committee for literature includes four to five members who evaluate nominations and make recommendations to the Academy.
A longlist of 15-20 writers is compiled before a shortlist of five is finalized.
In theory, anyone producing exceptional literature can be nominated—there are no stringent requirements other than the quality of their work.
However, nomination details are kept secret, remaining confidential for 50 years after being submitted!
Four groups are authorized to nominate: members of the Swedish Academy, literature professors, previous Nobel Prize winners, and chairpersons of literary organizations.
