Nobel Prize News Dominates Bestsellers with Han Kang's Works... Online Bookstores Temporarily Overloaded

"Unexpected Nobel Prize... No Current Books Available"

Novelist Han Kang made history as the first Korean to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, triggering a surge in book orders. Major bookstore websites were temporarily overwhelmed.

On the 10th, Kyobo Book Centre and Yes24 experienced heavy traffic that slowed or disrupted access to their websites, according to Yonhap News. A Kyobo Book Centre representative said, "We received complaints that the site was difficult to access, and even when it did work, there was lag causing pages not to load properly."

Novelist Han Kang won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, drawing significant attention to his books and causing an online bookstore to temporarily crash. Photo by Kyobo Bookstore website capture.

The representative added, "We did not anticipate Han Kang's win, so we currently have no stock of her books," and said, "We are urgently contacting publishers such as Changbi and Munhakdongne who published Han Kang's works."

The situation at Yes24 is similar. A Yes24 representative said, "We heard complaints about slight delays when opening the site," but added, "However, the mobile site is currently running smoothly."

Despite the website disruptions, Han Kang's books are selling like hotcakes. Bookstores are quickly setting up special sections dedicated to the Nobel Prize in Literature. According to Kyobo Book Centre's real-time bestseller list, The Vegetarian ranks first, A Boy Who Came is second, We Do Not Part is third, and Greek Lessons is fourth.

His poetry collection I Put My Evening in a Drawer is fifth, White is sixth, the revised edition of The Vegetarian is seventh, The Essential is eighth, and the special edition of A Boy Who Came is ninth. At Yes24, Han Kang's works occupy the top ten spots.

The Swedish Academy announced Han Kang as this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. This marks the second time a Korean has received a Nobel Prize, following the late former President Kim Dae-jung, who won the Peace Prize in 2000.