Baek Se-hee, author of 'I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki,' dies at 35

Baek Se-hee (Korea Organ Donation Agency)

Baek Se-hee, the author of the internationally bestselling memoir "I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki," has died at the age of 35.

According to the Korea Organ Donation Agency, Baek saved five lives through organ donation. The agency said on Thursday that she donated her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys.

Further details surrounding her death have not been disclosed.

Baek’s younger sister said in a press release via KODA, “(Baek) wanted to write, to share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope. Knowing her gentle nature, incapable of harboring hatred, I hope she can now rest peacefully.”

Baek rose to prominence with her 2018 runaway bestseller "I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki." Part essay and part self-help guide, the book gained recognition for its candid reflection on her struggles with depression — dysthymia, or persistent depressive disorder — and her therapy sessions with her psychiatrist.

The book resonated widely for its plain-spoken honesty and its effort to dismantle the stigma surrounding mental illness in Korea.

According to her publisher, the two-part series has sold about 600,000 copies in Korea.

The book has been translated and published in more than 25 countries, including the UK, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium and Poland, with over 1 million copies sold worldwide. In the UK alone, it sold 100,000 copies within six months of its release.

In a previous interview with The Korea Herald, Baek said, "Even across different languages and cultures, I realized that the feeling of a ‘wounded heart’ is the same everywhere. It still amazes me that my story has touched someone else’s heart. At the same time, it’s sobering to think that so many people carry deep inner pain and that it takes great courage just to say, ‘I’m not okay.’"

Baek also collaborated with other writers on books such as "No One Will Ever Love You as Much as I Do" (2021) and "I Want to Write, I Don’t Want to Write" (2022), and engaged with readers through talk concerts and lectures. In June, she published her first work of short fiction, "A Will from Barcelona."