Han Kang says her bookshop was 'a dream since her 20s' — and that Isabelle Huppert once stopped by

Nobel laureate Han Kang smiles after a "Conversation with the Author" event at the 80th Avignon Theatre Festival on Sunday (local time). [Yonhap]

Nobel Prize-winning author Han Kang has spoken about the closure of her independent bookshop, saying it had been a dream since her 20s — and that French actress Isabelle Huppert once paid a quiet, unannounced visit. She also shared memories of the May 18 Gwangju Uprising.

According to the Avignon Festival, Han spoke at a "Conversation with the Author" event held as part of the 80th Avignon Theatre Festival on Sunday (local time). "The bookshop first opened in September 2018. I started preparing in July of that year and opened a small shop in the neighborhood," she said.

"I had wanted to open a bookshop since my 20s," she said. "On nights when I couldn't sleep, I would spread books across the dining table as if it were a display shelf, write little recommendation notes and stick them on, and walk from the front door imagining the layout of the shop — how I would move through it, how customers would."

She also described what had moved her most about running the shop, and explained what led to its recent closure.

"Whenever I went to a bookshop, I loved watching people stand in silence as they chose a book — the postures they took," Han said. "I loved that atmosphere so much, and it was always deeply moving to see customers take on those same postures inside a space I had created."

"I held many readings, and I loved those moments of collective focus on a single author's work — reading aloud together with the customers," she said. "I spent eight happy years there, and the shop closed not long ago."

The building was sold, forcing all tenants to leave, which is why the shop had to close. "Just before it shut, Isabelle Huppert came quietly one morning when there were no other customers, without anyone knowing, and we talked. It became a wonderful memory," she added.

Han opened the independent bookshop Chaekbang Oneul in Tongeui-dong, Seochon, Seoul in 2018. It held its final day of business on July 7 and closed after eight years.

Nobel laureate Han Kang attends a "Conversation with the Author" event at the 80th Avignon Theatre Festival on Sunday (local time). [Yonhap]

Han also spoke about moving frequently as a child, saying books had always made her feel protected. "It was natural that I came to dream of having a bookshop," she said.

She then reflected on her middle school years, when she first decided she wanted to become a writer.

"I made up my mind to become a writer when I was 14," Han said. "I was going through adolescence, wrestling with questions like: Who am I? What is life? Why do I exist? Why must everyone die? Why is there suffering? I came to want to write as a way of asking those questions."

Asked whether her work — which draws on political events — amounted to political writing, Han rejected the distinction. "I don't think the personal and the political can be separated," she said. "'The Vegetarian' may seem like a deeply personal story, but it is a highly political novel. 'Human Acts' could be called a social novel, but for me it is a deeply personal one."

"Likewise, 'We Do Not Part' deals with history, but it focuses closely on the inner lives of human beings," she said. "I don't think political writing and interior writing can be so neatly divided."

Nobel laureate Han Kang signs autographs for fans after a "Conversation with the Author" event at the 80th Avignon Theatre Festival on Sunday (local time). [Yonhap]

Han also explained the connection between "We Do Not Part," which deals with the April 3 Jeju Uprising, and "Human Acts," which centers on the May 18 Gwangju Uprising.

Asked by the moderator why she had chosen to write about Korea's political history, Han said the starting point was "Human Acts." "'Human Acts' and 'We Do Not Part' are connected — the two books form a pair," she said. "I was born in Gwangju, and as a child I experienced that event — the May 18 uprising — indirectly."

"I left Gwangju at age nine, and the uprising happened four months later," she said. She added that after writing "Greek Lessons" in her early 40s, she realized that "by going inward and writing a novel about Gwangju, I could pass through that event and move my writing forward."

Han said that shortly after publishing "Human Acts," she had a recurring dream of falling snow, and that dream became the opening of "We Do Not Part."

"The dream felt like it was telling me something important," she said. "As I thought about another novel that would follow from it, I came to write 'We Do Not Part.' I don't think either work is solely about Korean history — I believe both speak to universal human experience."

"I wanted to write about the violence that human beings have repeatedly committed throughout all of history," she said. "I came to write about the people who remain after violence has passed — those who do not part, who do not stop grieving."

This marks the first time Han has made a public appearance since winning the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature. Korea was selected as the guest language for this year's Avignon Theatre Festival to mark the 140th anniversary of diplomatic ties between South Korea and France, and Han was invited as a key figure.

French actress Isabelle Huppert will perform a reading of "We Do Not Part" alongside Korean actor Lee Hye-young on Wednesday and Thursday. Huppert also attended Han's "Conversation with the Author" event that day.

ygmoon@heraldcorp.com