Han Kang’s first nonfiction book to be translated into English is coming in 2026.
Hogarth will publish the Nobel Prize–winning author’s Light and Thread, translated by Maya West, e. yaewon, and Paige Aniyah Morris, next spring, the press announced in a news release. It says the book is “a singular collection of writings including her inspiring Nobel Lecture.”
The South Korean writer made her literary debut in 1995 with the short story collection A Love of Yeosu and had a breakout hit in 2007 with her novel The Vegetarian. It was translated into English by Deborah Smith and published in the U.S. in 2016, becoming a much-discussed bestseller. Han’s other books to be published in English include Human Acts, translated by Smith; Greek Lessons, translated by Smith and yaewon; and, most recently, We Do Not Part, translated by yaewon and Morris.
Han was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2024. In its citation, the Swedish Academy said she was given the award “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
Light and Thread will include her Nobel lecture, as well as “a sequence of essays, poems, photographs, and diaries,” Hogarth said. “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.”
In a statement, Han said, “As I arranged the essays, poems, diary entries, and photographs to be included in this book, I imagined all of its spaces—from the first page to the last—enveloped in light. I am grateful and glad that this light, imbued into this English translation, continues to encounter readers.”
Light and Thread is scheduled for publication on March 24, 2026.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
