This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors.
The New York Mets celebrate after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the National League baseball playoff series, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) scores against the San Antonio Spurs during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at LaGuardia International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A 'Vote Early' sign is displayed on a monitor as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Santander Arena, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Chris Nation, of Commerce, Ga., climbs a tree and gestures while hanging out with coworkers outside the hotel where they are riding out Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Nation, who works for a towing company, was deployed with colleagues to Florida to aid in the aftermath of the storm. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A goggle-wearing dog is strapped to a motorcycle driver's back as they wait at a stoplight in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Indian artists dressed as Hindu deities Rama, left, and Lakshman, right, sit on a chariot being pulled by laborer that passes through the narrow alleys ahead of a religious procession during the Dussehra festival also known as Vijayadashami, the day Rama killed demon king Ravana who had abducted Rama's wife Sita, celebrating the victory of good over evil on 12th october in Prayagraj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
People take photos of the spray from waves crashing against the Malecon seawall, brought by the passing of Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Daniil Medvedev of Russia serves against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Pedestrians pass a prototype of a flying taxi, which is currently in development in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after it was unveiled in the taxi rank outside Charing Cross railway station in London, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
An person wears Donald Trump-themed socks before a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Riverfront Sports, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Romanian serviceman walk after laying flower wreaths inside the Holocaust memorial, backdropped by names of victims engraved in rusty metal plates, during the National Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, the date when, in 1941, the deportations of Jews and Roma began in the country. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Svetlana holds a flag with a photo of her son Andrii Savchuk, a Ukrainian officer of the 36th marine brigade, during a gathering in support of soldiers who defended Mariupol and are still in Russian captivity after two and half years, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Pope Francis meets Spain's faithful at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Rescue workers search for victims on a hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman looks on as firefighters work to extinguish a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit a residential building in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
People take photos of the spray from waves crashing against the Malecon seawall, brought by the tail end of Hurricane Milton, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Christian Burke stands at the door of his home, where he, his mother, and his aunt plan to ride out Hurricane Milton on the third floor overlooking overlooking Tampa Bay, in Gulfport, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Burke, who said his engineer father built the concrete home to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, expects his raised ground floor to get up to 8 feet of water in Milton. A boat deposited by Hurricane Helene sits lodged in the bay front park outside his front door. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Click to Gallery
Chris Nation, of Commerce, Ga., climbs a tree and gestures while hanging out with coworkers outside the hotel where they are riding out Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Nation, who works for a towing company, was deployed with colleagues to Florida to aid in the aftermath of the storm. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
Indian artists dressed as Hindu deities Rama, left, and Lakshman, right, sit on a chariot being pulled by laborer that passes through the narrow alleys ahead of a religious procession during the Dussehra festival also known as Vijayadashami, the day Rama killed demon king Ravana who had abducted Rama's wife Sita, celebrating the victory of good over evil on 12th october in Prayagraj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
Christian Burke stands at the door of his home, where he, his mother, and his aunt plan to ride out Hurricane Milton on the third floor overlooking overlooking Tampa Bay, in Gulfport, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Burke, who said his engineer father built the concrete home to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, expects his raised ground floor to get up to 8 feet of water in Milton. A boat deposited by Hurricane Helene sits lodged in the bay front park outside his front door. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
The New York Mets celebrate after defeating the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 4 of the National League baseball playoff series, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero (5) scores against the San Antonio Spurs during the first half of a preseason NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris waves as she boards Air Force Two at LaGuardia International Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A 'Vote Early' sign is displayed on a monitor as Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Santander Arena, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Reading, Pa. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Chris Nation, of Commerce, Ga., climbs a tree and gestures while hanging out with coworkers outside the hotel where they are riding out Hurricane Milton, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Tampa, Fla. Nation, who works for a towing company, was deployed with colleagues to Florida to aid in the aftermath of the storm. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
A goggle-wearing dog is strapped to a motorcycle driver's back as they wait at a stoplight in Bogota, Colombia, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)
Indian artists dressed as Hindu deities Rama, left, and Lakshman, right, sit on a chariot being pulled by laborer that passes through the narrow alleys ahead of a religious procession during the Dussehra festival also known as Vijayadashami, the day Rama killed demon king Ravana who had abducted Rama's wife Sita, celebrating the victory of good over evil on 12th october in Prayagraj in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
People take photos of the spray from waves crashing against the Malecon seawall, brought by the passing of Hurricane Milton in the Gulf of Mexico, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Daniil Medvedev of Russia serves against Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece during the men's singles fourth round match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Pedestrians pass a prototype of a flying taxi, which is currently in development in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), after it was unveiled in the taxi rank outside Charing Cross railway station in London, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
An person wears Donald Trump-themed socks before a campaign rally for Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at Riverfront Sports, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, in Scranton, Pa. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
Romanian serviceman walk after laying flower wreaths inside the Holocaust memorial, backdropped by names of victims engraved in rusty metal plates, during the National Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorations in Bucharest, Romania, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024, the date when, in 1941, the deportations of Jews and Roma began in the country. (AP Photo/Andreea Alexandru)
Svetlana holds a flag with a photo of her son Andrii Savchuk, a Ukrainian officer of the 36th marine brigade, during a gathering in support of soldiers who defended Mariupol and are still in Russian captivity after two and half years, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
Pope Francis meets Spain's faithful at the end of his weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Rescue workers search for victims on a hotel-turned-shelter for displaced people hit by an Israeli airstrike, in Wardaniyeh, south Lebanon, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Mourners attend the funeral of Palestinians killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip outside the hospital morgue in Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
A woman looks on as firefighters work to extinguish a fire after a rocket, fired from Lebanon, hit a residential building in Kiryat Shmona, northern Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
People take photos of the spray from waves crashing against the Malecon seawall, brought by the tail end of Hurricane Milton, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Christian Burke stands at the door of his home, where he, his mother, and his aunt plan to ride out Hurricane Milton on the third floor overlooking overlooking Tampa Bay, in Gulfport, Fla., Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2024. Burke, who said his engineer father built the concrete home to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, expects his raised ground floor to get up to 8 feet of water in Milton. A boat deposited by Hurricane Helene sits lodged in the bay front park outside his front door. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
STOCKHOLM (AP) — South Korean poet and novelist Han Kang was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday for a poetic and unsettling body of work that the Nobel committee said “confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.”
A slow-burning international literary star who has won multiple awards in South Korea and Europe, Han is the first Asian woman and the first South Korean writer to win the Nobel literature prize. She was awarded for books, including “The Vegetarian” and “Human Acts," that explore the pain of being human and the scars of Korea's turbulent history.
Nobel literature committee member Anna-Karin Palm said Han writes about “trauma, pain and loss,” whether individual or collective, “with the same compassion and care.”
“And this, I think, is something that is quite remarkable,” Palm said.
Nobel committee chairman Anders Olsson praised Han’s “empathy for the vulnerable, often female lives” of her characters.
“She has a unique awareness of the connections between body and soul, the living and the dead,” Olsson said.
Han is the second South Korean national to win a Nobel Prize. Late former President Kim Dae-jung won the peace prize in 2000 for his efforts to restore democracy in South Korea during the country’s previous military rule and improve relations with war-divided rival North Korea.
Speaking to the Swedish Academy by phone, Han said she had just finished having dinner with her son at home in Seoul when she got a call with the news.
She said she was both “honored” and surprised to become South Korea's first Nobel literature laureate.
“I grew up with Korean literature, which I feel very close (to)," said Han, whose father and brother are both novelists. “So I hope this news is nice for Korean literature readers and my friends, writers.”
As for celebrating the win, she said: "I’m going to have tea with my son and I’ll celebrate it quietly tonight.”
Han wins the Nobel at a time of growing global influence of South Korean culture, which in recent years has included the success of films like director Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “ Parasite,” the Netflix survival drama “Squid Game” and the worldwide fame of K-pop groups like BTS and BLACKPINK.
Han, 53, won the International Booker Prize for fiction translated into English in 2016 for “The Vegetarian,” an unsettling novel in which a woman’s decision to stop eating meat has devastating consequences.
Accepting that award, Han said writing novels “is a way of questioning for me.”
“I just try to complete my questions through the process of my writing and I try to stay in the questions, sometimes painful, sometimes — well — sometimes demanding,” she said.
Han made her publishing debut as a poet in 1993; her first short story collection was published in 1995 and her first novel, “Black Deer,” in 1998.
Works translated into English include “Greek Lessons” — about the relationship between a woman who can no longer speak and a teacher who is losing his sight — “Human Acts” and “The White Book,” a poetic novel that draws on the death of Han’s older sister shortly after birth. “The White Book” was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2018.
“Human Acts” — which Olsson, the Nobel committee chair, called a work of “witness literature” — is based on the real-life killing of pro-democracy protesters in Han’s home city of Gwangju in 1980. The book won Italy’s Malaparte Prize in 2017.
Her most recent novel, “We Do Not Part,” is due to be published in English next year. It also confronts a chapter in South Korea's 20th-century history, which saw the country endure war, the division of the Korean peninsula and dictatorship. The novel deals with a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland in which thousands of people were killed.
Anders Karlsson, a lecturer at London's School of Oriental and African Studies who has translated Han into Swedish, said he was “overjoyed” at the Nobel accolade.
He said Han's “poignant, condensed” prose is able to describe “difficult and dark passages in South Korean history ... in quite open and inviting language that engages and does not deter the reader.”
The literature prize has long faced criticism that it is too focused on European and North American writers of style-heavy, story-light prose. It has also been male-dominated — Han is only the 18th woman among its 120 laureates.
Six days of Nobel announcements opened Monday with Americans Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the medicine prize. Two founding fathers of machine learning — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the physics prize. On Wednesday, three scientists who discovered powerful techniques to decode and even design novel proteins were awarded the chemistry prize.
The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced Friday and the economics award on Monday.
The prize carries a cash award of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) from a bequest left by the award’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel. The laureates are invited to receive their awards at ceremonies on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel’s death.
An earlier version of this story incorrectly said “Human Acts” was an International Booker Prize finalist in 2018. “The White Book” was a finalist for the prize.
Lawless reported from London. Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands. Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed.
South Korean Kim Hyung-duk, 77-year-old, holds books by the South Korean writer Han Kang after buying them at a bookstore in Goyang, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
A book store employee handles books by the South Korean writer Han Kang in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Kang has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A TV screen shows a file image of the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang, during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A TV screen shows a file image of the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang, during a news program at Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Books by the South Korean writer Han Kang displayed at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Kang has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
Books by the South Korean writer Han Kang displayed at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Kang has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
A book store employee handles books by the South Korean writer Han Kang in London, Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. Kang has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature 2024, speaks to the media after the announcement of the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
Anders Olsson, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Literature 2024, speaks to the media after the announcement of the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - Han Kang speaks to the media after winning the Man Booker International prize for fiction for her book 'The Vegetarian' in London, Tuesday, May, 16, 2016. Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)
Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Mats Malm announces the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Mats Malm announces the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Mats Malm announces the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang, at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
Swedish Academy's permanent secretary Mats Malm announces the winner of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, South Korean writer Han Kang at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, Thursday Oct. 10, 2024. (Jessica Gow/TT News Agency via AP)
FILE - South Korean author Han Kang listens to a reporter's question in front of a banner of her new fiction during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
FILE - South Korean author Han Kang answers a reporter's question during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
FILE - South Korean author Han Kang poses for the media during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, Tuesday, May 24, 2016. Kang has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man, File)
FILE - A Nobel Prize medal is displayed before a ceremony at the Swedish Ambassador's Residence in London, Monday, Dec. 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)
FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
The Nobel Prize in literature is being awarded in Stockholm
FILE - A bust of Alfred Nobel on display following a press conference at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, on Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (Henrik Montgomery/TT News Agency via AP, File)
The Nobel Prize in literature is being awarded in Stockholm
