Han Kang dominates annual bestseller lists with multiple titles

Han Kang’s “Human Acts” has topped this year’s bestseller lists in Korea.

The Nobel laureate dominated the top three spots, with “Human Acts” in first place, followed by “The Vegetarian” in second and “We Do Not Part” in third, according to the two 2024 year-end bestseller rankings released Monday by major booksellers -- Kyobo Book Center, the country’s largest bookstore chain, and Yes24, the leading online retailer.

Han previously claimed the top spot on Kyobo’s chart in 2016 with “The Vegetarian.”

“With just two months of sales since the Nobel Prize announcement on Oct. 10, ‘Human Acts’ sold enough to claim the No. 1 spot for the year," said an official at Kyobo Book Center. "This marks the highest sales figure for a book ranked first over the past decade (2015-2024)."

In addition to the top three, Han’s “The White Book” ranked ninth, and her poetry collection “I Put the Evening in the Drawer” ranked 10th. Five of Han’s works made it into Kyobo's top 10 this year.

Notably, the demographic that showed the most significant shift in interest before and after Han’s Nobel win was readers aged 50 and older. Before the Nobel Prize win announcement (from Jan. 1 to Oct. 9), Han’s books were mostly purchased by readers in their 20s (35.5 percent). After the win (from Oct. 10 to Nov. 29), the share of readers 50 and over jumped from 15.3 percent to 27.3 percent.

Sales trends at Yes24 were similar to those at Kyobo Book Center, with half of the retailer’s top 10 bestselling books written by Han. According to Yes24, “The White Book” ranked sixth and the poetry collection eighth.

“The most notable event this year was undoubtedly Han Kang’s Nobel Prize win in literature. Sales of her books surged approximately 100 times compared to the same period last year (Oct. 10-Nov. 30)," said an official from Yes24.

"Human Acts" draws upon the democratization uprising of May 18, 1980, in Gwangju, the city where she grew up.

The South Korean military carried out a massacre in response, killing hundreds of students and unarmed civilians. The Nobel Prize committee described the book as a work of witness literature, saying it “gives voice to the victims of history.”