The English translation of "Light and Thread," the latest book by acclaimed South Korean author and 2024 Nobel Prize laureate Han Kang, is set for release early next year.
The English edition, translated by Maya West, E. Yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, will be published on March 24 in English-speaking countries by Hogarth, an imprint of Penguin Random House.
Originally released in Korean in April, “Light and Thread” was Han’s first publication in Korean since winning the Nobel Prize in literature last year. The collection, described by the publisher as a “light-filled and multifaceted book,” brings together 12 pieces, including five poems and several essays, and is accompanied by photographs taken by Han herself.
Three of the pieces are related to the Nobel Prize ceremony: the full text of her Nobel lecture, "Light and Thread," delivered at the Swedish Academy on Dec. 7; her banquet speech, "In the Darkest Night," delivered on Dec. 10; and a short message she wrote for the Nobel Museum when donating a teacup, titled "Small Teacup."
Han noted that the teacup was part of her daily writing routine while working on her previous novel, "We Do Not Part," which was also co-translated into English by E. Yaewon and Morris.
The collection features five of Han’s poems written after her first and only poetry collection in 2013, alongside three previously unpublished essays reflecting on her experience tending to the small north-facing garden of the first home she purchased on her own.
"A book of reflections, of words and light, it has at its heart the tiny, north-facing courtyard garden at her home, cultivated solely through the reflected sunlight of the mirrors which she must move throughout the day, as the earth turns on its axis," the publisher said.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
