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Han Kang's first post-Nobel book tops best-seller list

Published: 02 May. 2025, 11:55

Han Kang speaks at a press conference at Stockholm, Sweden, on Dec. 11, 2024. [YONHAP]

Nobel literature laureate Han Kang's latest book has topped a local best-seller list upon its release.

Major bookstore chain Kyobo Book Center said Friday that the book, "Light and Thread," claimed the No. 1 spot on its best-seller list for the last week of April.

Han's first publication since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature last year, the book contains a total of 12 writings, including five poems and several new prose pieces.

Three of the writings stem from the Nobel Prize in Literature award events last December: the full text of the laureate lecture "Light and Thread," delivered at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm, the acceptance speech "Even In the Darkest Night" given at the subsequent banquet and the message "A Small Teacup," left upon donating a teacup to the Nobel Prize Museum.

Among the new prose pieces, "North-facing Garden" describes the garden she tended at her first fully-owned home bought in 2019, while "Garden Diary" chronicles the garden's plant life over two years starting in 2021.

The book, which was released last Wednesday, has drawn particularly strong interest from female readers, who made up 69.7 percent of its audience, according to Kyobo.

Yonhap