South Korean author, Han Kang wins 2024 nobel prize in literature

In 2016, she won the International Booker Prize for her novel, The Vegetarian

Han Kang, South Korean author, has won the Nobel Prize in Literature, ultimately becoming first Korean writer and the 18th woman to win the award.

In 2016, she won the International Booker Prize for her novel, The Vegetarian.

She was the first Korean writer to win that award as well.

The new laureate is the 121st winner of what’s widely seen as the most prestigious award in world literature.

Founded by Swedish inventor and industrialist Alfred Nobel, the award is intended for an author who has “produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.”

Nobel prizes have been awarded since 1901.

The writer, who is 53 years old, has established a readership far beyond her home country, wrote critic, Leland Cheuk, in a recent NPR review of her novel Greek Lessons.

“Kang has carved out an international reputation for doing unsettling, transgressive work that’s as unpredictable as it is confrontational,” he wrote.

But this novel, about a woman who’s lost the ability to speak, and signs up to study ancient Greek with an instructor slowly losing his sight, contains “a hopeful, and humane belief in the redemptive power of love.”

“The reading experience is like that of watching a quiet indie film that tugs little by little at your heartstrings until you’re rendered speechless with both sadness and hope by the final pages,” he wrote.

Other Nobel Prize Winners in 2024

In Chemistry, David Baker, Demis Hassabis, and John J. Jumper share the award for their groundbreaking work on proteins.

Baker built entirely new kinds of proteins, while Hassabis and Jumper developed an AI model to predict proteins’ complex structures.

The Physics award goes to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton for their foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.

Meanwhile, Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun receive the Physiology or Medicine award for discovering microRNA, a new class of tiny RNA molecules that play a crucial role in gene regulation.

*History

The Nobel Prize was established in 1895 by Swedish inventor and chemist Alfred Nobel, who left his vast fortune to fund the awards. Nobel’s will specified that the prizes should be given annually to those who “confer the greatest benefit to mankind” in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace.

*Categories

There are six Nobel Prizes awarded annually:

1. Physics
2. Chemistry
3. Medicine (officially known as the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine)
4. Literature
5. Peace
6. Economics (officially known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel)

*Selection Process

The Nobel Prizes are awarded by various organizations:

1. Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences (Physics and Chemistry)
2. Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institutet (Medicine)
3. Swedish Academy (Literature)
4. Norwegian Nobel Committee (Peace)
5. Sveriges Riksbank (Economics).

*Criteria

The Nobel Prizes recognize outstanding contributions in their respective fields, with the following criteria:

1. Originality
2. Impact
3. Significance
4. Benefit to humanity

*Award Ceremony

The Nobel Prizes are awarded annually on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death. The ceremony takes place in Stockholm, Sweden, and Oslo, Norway.

*Prize Amount

The Nobel Prize winners receive:

1. A gold medal
2. A diploma
3. A cash award (currently 9 million Swedish kronor, approximately $1.1 million)

*Notable Facts

1. Over 600 Nobel Prizes have been awarded since 1901.
2. The first Nobel Prize was awarded in 1901.
3. Marie Curie is the only person to have won two Prizes in different fields (Physics and Chemistry).
4. Malala Yousafzai is the youngest laureate, winning the Peace Prize at age 17.

For Diaspora Digital Media Updates click on Whatsapp, or Telegram. For eyewitness accounts/ reports/ articles, write to: citizenreports@diasporadigitalmedia.com. Follow us on X (Fomerly Twitter) or Facebook