Sales of Man Booker International Prize winner "The Vegetarian" by Korean novelist Han Kang have soared overseas, a Korean literary agency said Wednesday.
Joseph Lee, president of Korean Literary (KL) Management, told Yonhap News Agency that the book has gone into a second printing of
20,000 copies in the United Kingdom and 7,500 copies in the United States. KL Management handles the author's publication rights in foreign markets.
He also said many countries, including India, Indonesia and some Arabic countries, contacted him to buy the publication rights.
Han Kang's sixth full-length novel "Human Acts," published in 2014, is also getting renewed attention from readers overseas.
Publication rights of the book have been sold to 10 countries. The book centers around a boy who searches for his friend's corpse in the wake of the Gwangju student uprising in 1980 and the state's brutal crushing of the protesters.
Publication rights of her latest book "The Elegy of Whiteness," which is yet to be published in Korea, have already sold in Britain and the Netherlands. And Lee expected demand to increase once the book is published in Korea.
Since the award, publication rights of her works are said to have become more expensive. (Yonhap)
