Han Kang books sell out across Korea after Nobel Prize win

Since winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, Han Kang's books have seen a surge in sales, prompting major bookstores to rush reprints.

Customers at Kyobo Books' Gwanghwamun branch in Jongno District, central Seoul line up to buy Han Kang's books on Friday, the day after the author's Nobel Prize win. [YONHAP]

Han Kang’s new title of Nobel laureate has domestic and overseas customers clamoring to purchase her books, with more than 500,000 copies flying off shelves since the award's announcement Thursday. Major bookstores are continuing to accept orders despite having sold out.

Around 530,000 copies of Kang's books have been sold at Kyobo Book Centre and Yes24, two of the country’s largest bookstores, since the author received Korea's first Nobel Prize in Literature late on Thursday. More than 260,000 of the sales came from Kyobo and 270,000 from Yes24, according to the respective companies.

A rush of users overloaded both bookstores' websites. Publishers have increased printing of Han’s books, but the vast uptick in orders has made it so that those placed on Friday will arrive Oct. 15 at the earliest.

Kyobo said purchases of Han’s books jumped 451 times after the Nobel Prize announcement. Yes24 also revealed that the author’s most popular pieces, such as “Human Acts” (2014) and “The Vegetarian” (2007) sold 28,000 and 26,000 copies, respectively, on Friday, which is 784 and 696 times the amount each work had sold the day before.

A notice at Kyobo Books' Gwanghwamun branch in central Seoul alerts customers that Han Kang's books are sold out. [YONHAP]

Sales of Kang's lesser-known works, such as “I Do Not Bid Farewell,” (2021) “The White Book,” (2016) “Greek Lessons” (2011) and “I Put the Evening in the Drawer” (2013) also shot up.

“They’re selling so fast that we’re only keeping a tally for some,” a Yes24 spokesperson told the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“All of her books are selling well overall, at a fast pace.”

This is unlike when Han was awarded the International Booker Prize in 2016 following publication of the English translation of surrealist novel “The Vegetarian” the previous year, which drove up sales of that particular book.

With Han’s books flying off the shelves of even public libraries and secondhand bookstores, publishing companies including Changbi Publishers are considering selling limited-edition copies of her writing that commemorate her Nobel Prize win.

"We’re considering making Nobel Prize editions that have different covers,” an insider in the publishing industry said. Yonhap reported Sunday that more copies of Han's book will arrive on Monday and Tuesday.

Han Kang's books are displayed at Japanese book chain Kinokuniya's flagship store in Shinjuku on Thursday. [YONHAP]

Attention to Han’s books has been newly revived in other countries as well, and her readers are celebrating.

According to Japan’s Asahi Shimbun, around 20 customers at Kinokuniya’s flagship store in Shinjuku, Tokyo, watched the Nobel Prize announcement live and cheered after results came out. The bookstore immediately created a corner displaying five of the author’s translated works.

Japan broadcaster NHK described Han as a “writer popular in Japan, with many of her works translated in Japanese,” in a news report titled “Korean author Han Kang is the first Asian female author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature” (translated).

Readers from other countries also joined in the celebrations online and expressed their expectations for her future publications.

“Cheers to all my Han supremacists — I can’t wait to collect her latest work,” a user said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that included photos of her physical copies of Han’s books.

Update, Oct. 13: Story updated with sales figures and further information.

BY KIM CHUL-WOONG, KIM JU-YEON [kim.juyeon2@joongang.co.kr]