Han Kang is 55 years old as of October 2026. She was born on 27 November 1970.
South Korean writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
Did you know?Her novel The Vegetarian was the first Korean-language book to win the International Booker Prize.
Quick facts
Date of birth27 November 1970
Age55
NationalitySouth Korean
BirthplaceGwangju, South Korea
Occupationwriter, novelist, short story writer
Editor's Take:
Han Kang writes quietly about violence, the body and survival. In The Vegetarian, a woman's refusal to eat meat unravels her family. Human Acts returns to the 1980 Gwangju massacre through the voices of the living and the dead. She grew up partly in that city. Her prose is spare and poetic and often disturbing. The Nobel committee praised her for confronting historical trauma. Her win brought new global attention to Korean literature.
Key Milestones
1993: Makes her debut as a poet
2014: Publishes Human Acts
2016: Wins the International Booker Prize for The Vegetarian
2024: Wins the Nobel Prize in Literature
Han Kang (Korean: 한강; born 27 November 1970) is a South Korean writer. From 2007 to 2018, she taught creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts.
