Han Kang expected to be introduced in Korean at Nobel Prize Ceremony

Novelist Han Kang is expected to take the stage at the Nobel Prize in Literature ceremony on Dec. 10 (local time) in Stockholm, Sweden, accompanied by an introduction in Korean.

Translator Park Ok-kyung, who translated Han's works into Swedish, recently received a request from the Swedish Academy to translate the final sentence of the introductory speech for the Nobel Prize ceremony into Korean, according to a report on Sunday. Park translated Han Kang’s works The Elegy of Whiteness and The Impossible Farewell into Swedish with her husband, Anders Karlsson, a professor at SOAS, University of London.

The Nobel Prize in Literature ceremony is typically conducted in Swedish, but the final phrase introducing the laureate is pronounced in the author’s native language. For instance, it might be announced, “친애하는 ‘한강’ 작가님 나와 주세요. (Dear Han Kang, please come forward.)”

In previous ceremonies, the Swedish Academy introduced the 2022 Nobel laureate in literature, French writer Annie Ernaux, with “Chère Annie Ernaux” in French. In 2019, Austrian writer Peter Handke was welcomed to the stage with “Lieber Peter Handke” in German.

Three days before the ceremony, on Dec. 7, Han Kang will deliver her official lecture in Korean in Stockholm. The content will be translated into English and Swedish and posted on the Nobel Prize website. Park and her husband are also tasked with translating Han’s lecture into Swedish. Nobel literature laureates typically share their reflections through an official lecture before the award ceremony.


이호재 기자 hoho@donga.com