Light and Thread : The Nobel Lecture

From Nobel Prize winner Han Kang comes her first work of nonfiction published in English—a singular collection of writings including her inspiring Nobel Lecture.

A LITERARY HUB AND ELECTRIC LIT MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK OF THE YEAR

In this light-filled and multi-faceted book, Han Kang draws together the threads of her work and life, tracing the connections between her interior and exterior worlds through a sequence of essays, poems, photographs, and diaries, brilliantly translated by Maya West and e. yaewon & Paige Aniyah Morris.

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 poem written at eight years old, Han Kang imagined a “gold thread” of connection—an idea which she explores here with luminous attention, beginning with her Nobel Lecture. She writes of the wonder of following the thread we call language into the depths of other hearts, and her profound sense of an electric current which joins writer and reader.

Both intimate and illuminating, Light and Thread is a book for all readers of Han Kang’s unique body of work.

Han Kang was born in 1970 in South Korea. She is the author of The Vegetarian, winner of the International Booker Prize, Human Acts, The White Book, and Greek Lessons. In 2024, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Born and raised in Korea, translator Maya West has an MFA in prose from the University of Michigan and operates an independent project space in Seoul called SALT.

e. yaewon is based in Korea and translates from and into Korean, including titles by Hwang Jungeun, Jessica Au, and Maggie Nelson.

Paige Aniyah Morris divides her time between the United States and Korea. Recent translations include works by Pak Kyongni, Ji-min Lee, and Chang Kang-myoung.