Japanese translator of Han Kang's 'We Do Not Part' receives Yomiuri Literary Award

Japanese edition of Han Kang's "We Do Not Part" (Literature Translation Institute of Korea)

Japanese translator Saito Mariko has won the Research and Translation category at the 76th Yomiuri Literary Awards for her Japanese translation of “We Do Not Part” by 2024 Nobel Prize in literature winner Han Kang, according to the Literature Translation Institute of Korea on Thursday.

Considered one of Japan’s most prestigious literary awards, the Yomiuri Literary Award is presented annually in six categories: Fiction, Play/Screenplay, Essay/Travelogue, Criticism/Biography, Poetry (including Haiku), and Research/Translation.

This marks the first time a single translated work by a Korean author has won in this category. Earlier, in 1990, Ibaraki Noriko won the 42nd Yomiuri Literary Award in the same category for her translation of “Selected Works of Modern Korean Poetry.”

The award recognizes books published in Japan between November of the previous year and November of the awarding year, with a prize of 2 million yen ($13,500). This year’s award ceremony took place on Tuesday at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

“We Do Not Part,” a 2021 novel by Han, previously won the French Emile Guimet Prize for Asian Literature and the Medicis Prize.

Saito has also translated several other works by the Korean author, including “The White Book,” “Greek Lessons” and “I Put the Evening in the Drawer.” In addition to Han Kang’s works, she has translated over 30 Korean literary works since 2014, including Cho Nam-joo’s “Kim Ji-young, Born 1982,” as well as works by Jung Se-rang, Kim Bo-young and Cheon Myeong-kwan. She is also active as a poet in Japan.