More than one million copies of Han Kang’s books have been sold in South Korea since her Nobel Prize for Literature win, according to bookstores on Wednesday. Han Kang, the first South Korean and Asian woman author to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature, is internationally acclaimed for her novel The Vegetarian, which previously won the Man Booker Prize.
The 53-year-old author was awarded the Nobel for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life,” the Swedish Academy announced last week. The news created a nationwide sensation, causing major bookstore and publishing websites to crash as tens of thousands rushed to purchase her books.
Since the announcement last Thursday, a combined total of at least 1.06 million copies, including e-books, have been sold, according to three leading bookstores and online retailers—Kyobo, Aladin, and YES24.
Kyobo spokesperson Kim Hyun-jung described the unprecedented demand, saying, “Han Kang’s books are experiencing unprecedented sales. This is a situation we have never seen before.”
Aladin, an online bookstore, reported that Han’s Nobel win triggered a staggering 1,200-fold increase in her book sales compared to the same period last year. The company added that the surge in demand has also significantly boosted the sales of South Korean literature overall, which has seen a 12-fold increase compared to the previous year.
Additionally, two books Han recently mentioned she was reading—Inventory of Losses by Judith Schalansky and Atlas de botanique élémentaire by Jean-Jacques Rousseau—have seen a spike in sales, Aladin noted.
Kyobo Book Centre acknowledged that while it could not provide exact figures, Han’s books have far outsold those of other Nobel laureates.
The Nobel win has sparked national pride in South Korea. Han’s alma mater, Yonsei University in Seoul, displayed banners celebrating her achievement, while in her hometown of Gwangju—a city marked by the 1980 massacre that inspired her novel Human Acts—a congratulatory banner was placed on a building targeted by a military helicopter during the tragic event.
Local reports indicate that printing houses have been operating at maximum capacity over the weekend to keep up with the surge in demand for Han’s books.