Nobel laureate Han Kang’s books fly off shelves with 530K copies sold

More than 500,000 copies of novels and short stories written by Nobel Prize laureate Han Kang have been sold at two major online bookstores in South Korea since her win four days ago, the bookstore operators said Sunday. (Photo By librairie mollat/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0)

By Yonhap, Philippine News Agency

SEOUL – More than 500,000 copies of novels and short stories written by Nobel Prize laureate Han Kang have been sold at two major online bookstores in South Korea since her win four days ago, the bookstore operators said Sunday.

About 530,000 copies of Han’s books have been sold as of 2 p.m. Sunday, following the announcement of her win as the first South Korean to receive the Nobel Prize in literature last Thursday, according to Kyobo Book Centre and Yes24.

Kyobo sold about 260,000 copies between Thursday and this afternoon, and Yes24 sold 270,000 copies from Thursday until 2 p.m. Sunday.
Han’s poetry and novels swept the top 11 spots in the real-time bestseller rankings at both Kyobo and Yes24, with most of her books now being sold through preorders.

A bookstore official said the supply shortage is expected to ease as more stock will arrive over the weekend and by early this week.
Her 2014 novel, “Human Acts,” followed by the award-winning “The Vegetarian” and her most recent work, “We Do Not Part,” were the top three on the sales list.

Han won the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday, becoming the first South Korean to win the big international award and blazing the trail for Korean literature’s global recognition.