Han Kang

More than a million copies of books by Han Kang, the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, have sold locally since the honor was announced, bookstores said on Oct. 15.

The short story writer and novelist is best known overseas for her Man Booker Prize-winning "The Vegetarian," her first novel translated into English.

Han Kang is the first Korean woman to ever receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. However, she refuses to hold any press conference, and the reason is deeply significant.

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded to South Korean author Han Kang "for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life." With this recognition, Han becomes the 18th woman to receive the prestigious award.

Turkey's Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk has been nominated for the 2016 Man Booker International Prize for his novel "Kafamda Bir Tuhafl?k" (A Strangeness in My Mind). 

The prize celebrates the best in global fiction, with 13 books in contention. The longlist for the prize included books from 155 writers 12 different countries in nine different languages.