A print shop in Paju, Gyeonggi Province was busy printing the representative work of author Han Kang, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The Swedish Academy announced on the 10th that Han Kang had been selected as the winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature. Following the announcement, Han Kang’s works are selling rapidly. In fact, online bookstore Aladdin sold out its stock of over 70,000 copies of Han Kang’s works in just two days. Particularly during the 14 hours from 8 p.m. on the 10th to 10 a.m. on the 11th, there was a record-breaking amount of sales.
According to Aladdin on the 13th, compared to the 9th, sales of “The Boy Comes” increased by 521 times, “The Vegetarian” by 901 times, “Human Acts” by 1719 times, “White” by 2072 times, and “The White Book” by 1235 times. Sales of “The Boy Comes” increased by 3598% compared to the previous month. “The Vegetarian,” which won the Booker International Prize, also increased by 3960%. Particularly, the recent work “Human Acts,” recommended by Han Kang herself for first reading, saw a sharp increase of 5502% in sales. For example, “The Boy Comes” sold 18 copies per minute from the time of the Nobel Prize announcement on the 10th at 8 p.m. until midnight.
In addition to Aladdin, major bookstores such as Kyobo Bookstore and Yes24 also sold over 100,000 copies in just a few days after the award announcement, and currently, there is almost no stock left at bookstores. According to the publishing industry, reprints of Han Kang’s works will be available in bookstores as early as this week starting from the 16th.