After Nobel Prize win, South Korean Han Kang's books fly off shelves with over 500,000 copies sold

Kang`s 2014 novel, `Human Acts`, followed by the award-winning `The Vegetarian` and her most recent work, `We Do Not Part`, were the top three on the sales list. Photo Courtesy: AFP

More than 500,000 copies of novels and short stories written by Nobel Prize laureate Han Kang have been sold at two major online bookstores in South Korea since her winning four days ago, the bookstore operators said on Sunday.

According to Kyobo Book Centre and Yes24, about 530,000 copies of Kang's books had been sold as of 2 pm on Sunday, since the announcement of her win as the first South Korean to receive the Nobel Prize in literature last Thursday, Yonhap news agency reported.

Kyobo sold about 260,000 copies between Thursday and this afternoon, and Yes24 sold 270,000 copies from Thursday until 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Kang's poetry and novels swept the top 11 spots in the real-time bestseller rankings at both Kyobo and Yes24, with most of her books now being sold through preorders.

A bookstore official said the supply shortage is expected to ease as more stock will arrive over the weekend and by early this week.

Her 2014 novel, "Human Acts," followed by the award-winning "The Vegetarian" and her most recent work, "We Do Not Part," were the top three on the sales list, the report said.

Kang won the Nobel Prize in literature on Thursday, becoming the first South Korean to win the big international award and blazing the trail for Korean literature's global recognition.

Born in Gwangju in 1970, Kang made her literary debut in 1993 when five of her poems including "Winter of Seoul" were published by the Korean magazine "Literature and Society", while her first short story "The Scarlet Anchor", which came out a year later, won a literary contest.

In 1995, she published her first book, "Love in Yeosu", a collection of stories, but it was "The Vegetarian" (originally published in Korean in 2007), about Yeong-hye, who rebels against her family and friends by eschewing meat, which brought her literary renown.

The work also won the Man Booker International Prize in 2016, making Kang its first South Korean recipient.

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