Han Kang's latest 'Light and Thread' brings meditative reflections on life while tending small garden

Korea Herald

23-04-2025

The latest books by Han Kang, last year's Nobel Prize in literature winner, will be released today, her first publication since winning the prize.
"Light and Thread" is a collection of meditative essays with five poems that takes its name from her Nobel lecture, delivered Dec. 7 at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The lecture starts the slim volume.
The 172-page collection was available for preorder starting Wednesday and will be released in bookstores beginning Thursday, according to Moonji Publishing.
"Light and Thread" brings together 12 pieces, including five poems and several essays, accompanied by photos taken by Han.
The book is released as part of the publisher's essay series "Ecrire" (to write in French), which curates the prose of literary writers noted for their distinctive styles.
The prose and poetry collection was discussed with the author during the early planning stages of the series in 2019, according to the publisher, with the theme and concept taking final shape by December 2024.
"We hope this will be a precious opportunity to meet writer(s), whom readers have only read through their polished literary works, in a more intimate and personal ways," the book's editor said to The Korea Herald.
3 pieces from Nobel Prize ceremony
Three of the pieces in the collection are related to the Nobel Prize ceremony: the full text of her Nobel lecture at the Swedish Academy, her banquet speech titled "In the Darkest Night" delivered Dec. 10 and a short message she wrote when donating a teacup to the Nobel Museum, titled "Small Teacup."
Regarding the teacup, Han wrote that the teacup was part of her daily routine while she was writing "We Do Not Part." She described her work routine: After getting up at 5:30 a.m. and going for a walk, she would drink a cup of tea. She drank black tea although the cup was designed for drinking green tea.
"We Do Not Part" follows two women as they navigate intergenerational trauma and shared mourning for relatives lost to state violence, in the shadow of a massacre that took place on South Korea's Jeju Island in the late 1940s. It took seven years to complete the book.
'As the teacup is so small, I didn't need to take in too much caffeine. It was like very warm medicine for me, which helped me to write on,' said Han.
One of the essays, "After Publication," was written in 2022, shortly after the release of "We Do Not Part." It was previously released in "The Essential: Han Kang," a special edition curated by Munhakdongne Publishing that brings together highlights from the author's key works.
5 poems after her first poetry collection
It is now well known that before Han made her prose debut in 1995 with the short story collection "Love of Yeosu," she began her literary career in 1993 by publishing several poems in the literary magazine "Literature and Society."
The latest collection includes five poems that originally appeared in "Literature and Society" and "Littor" between 2013 and 2024, following the publication of her first and only poetry collection, "I Put the Evening in the Drawer" (2013, Moonji Publishing).
The five poems are: "The Coat and I," "North-Facing Room," "(Meditation on Pain)," "Sound(s)" and "Very Small Snowflake."
3 unpublished intimate reflections while tending garden
Also included are three previously unpublished essays: "North-Facing Garden," "Garden Diary" and "After Living On."
"North-Facing Garden" recounts Han's experience tending to a small garden in the first home she ever purchased under her own name -- a house with a four-pyeong (roughly 13 square meters) yard. Here, she writes about the challenge of growing plants without direct sunlight, and how, in her effort to reflect light into the space using a mirror, she began to grasp the Earth's rotation in a new, embodied way.
"Garden Diary" follows in a more meditative, intimate format, chronicling her experiences in the garden day by day.
The final piece in the book, "After Living On," is a two-page lyrical essay, where every sentence stands on its own line.
The photo on the last page of the book features a poem Han wrote at the age of eight, which she referenced during her "Light and Thread" lecture, describing it as 'suitably innocent and unpolished (lines),' penned by her 8-year-old self.
Where is love?
It is inside my thump-thumping beating chest.
What is love?
It is the gold thread connecting between our hearts.
Meanwhile, Han is also putting the finishing touches on a long-awaited novel -- the final installment in her so-called 'Winter Trilogy.'
The new work is expected to be released later this year and will follow the short stories "While a Single Snowflake Melts" and "Farewell." Together, the three stories form an interconnected narrative. Han had been working on the final volume -- a midlength novel -- before her Nobel win.