Han Kang is a highly regarded writer from South Korea, best known for her fiction novels. She gained international fame when her novel "The Vegetarian" won the prestigious Man Booker Prize in 2016. This novel, which explores the drastic consequences of a woman's decision to stop eating meat, was Han's first major work to be translated into English.
Han Kang was born in Gwangju, South Korea on November 27, 1970. When she was ten years old, her family moved to Suyuri, Seoul, a place that she has spoken of with great affection in her work "Greek Lessons." She completed her undergraduate studies in Korean literature at Yonsei University. Han's literary career began when one of her poems was featured in the winter issue of the quarterly Literature and Society. She made her official literary debut the following year when her short story "The Scarlet Anchor" won the daily Seoul Shinmun spring literary contest.
Han Kang comes from a family of writers; her father is the renowned South Korean novelist Han Seung-won. Her brother, Han Dong Rim, is also a novelist. Han's work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Yi Sang Literary Prize in 2005, Today's Young Artist Award, and the Korean Literature Novel Award. As of summer 2013, Han has been teaching creative writing at the Seoul Institute of the Arts while continuing to write stories and novels.