‘We Do Not Part’ recognised for its haunting portrayal of trauma and refusal to forget historical violence.
South Korean author Han Kang, winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, has been awarded the prestigious National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) Award for Fiction for her novel We Do Not Part. The announcement was made at the NBCC’s annual ceremony in New York.
The English translation of the book, originally published in Korean in 2021 and released in the US in 2025, explores the long-lasting trauma of the 1948 Jeju uprising and massacre, during which tens of thousands of civilians were killed on South Korea’s southern island in the early years of the Cold War.
NBCC fiction committee chair Heather Scott Partington described the novel as “a work of blinding melancholy, bleak weather, and murmuring syntax” that “lingers like an atmospheric and arresting dream” and serves as “a subtly rendered sketch of trauma in the wake of the Jeju massacre-a rumination on creation and truth amidst loss.”
A Major Milestone for Translated Literature:
This marks the first time a South Korean author has won the NBCC fiction prize and only the third time in the award’s 51-year history that a translated novel has claimed the honour. Han Kang’s editor, David Ebershoff of Hogarth, accepted the award on her behalf as she was unable to attend the ceremony.
In her prepared remarks, Han Kang reflected on the book’s central theme of persistent mourning: “In this book, there are the ones who have resolved not to bid farewell. Instead of the impossible farewell, they choose to stay within tenacious mourning. They light candles below the sea, in the pitch black plunge of the night.”
The author, who took seven years to write the novel, expressed hope in “the blinking light which we have in us” and the tenacity to move forward while holding onto memory.
Han Kang’s Nobel Legacy and Rising Global Demand:
Han Kang became the first South Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature in October 2024, cited for her “intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” Her earlier works, including The Vegetarian (Booker International Prize winner) and Human Acts, have established her as one of the most powerful voices in contemporary world literature.
We Do Not Part is her first novel to appear in English after the Nobel announcement. The NBCC recognition has already triggered a surge in sales of the book in South Korea, with online retailers reporting significant spikes in demand.
Global Impact of Han Kang’s Literary Achievements:
Han Kang’s successive international honours have drawn global attention to Korean literature and the power of fiction to address historical injustice. Her success also highlights the growing influence of translated works in the English-speaking literary world, challenging the traditional dominance of Anglophone authors.
As one of the few major US literary prizes decided solely by critics, the NBCC Award carries particular weight within the publishing and reviewing community.