Sejong Book Club
Current Session: The Vegetarian by Han Kang, 2024 Nobel Laureate in literature
Date: Thursday, September 24, 2026
Time: 7:00 PM (Central Time, USA)
Format: Online via Zoom (open to participants worldwide)
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- Explore major works of Korean literature in English translation
- Learn from distinguished literature professors
- Join a welcoming online discussion with readers from around the world
About Sejong Book Club
The Sejong Book Club invites readers from around the world to explore Korean literature in English translation. Led by distinguished professors of literature, our online discussions offer a welcoming space to connect through reading, reflection, and cultural exchange.
Each session highlights a major Korean work translated into English, examining its themes, historical background, and artistic vision. Discussions are held several times a year, and all sessions are conducted in English.
Join us in discovering the depth and beauty of Korean literature—one book, one conversation at a time.
Book
"The Vegetarian" by Han Kang, 2024 Nobel Laureate in Literature
Book Cover
About This Book
FROM HAN KANG, WINNER OF THE 2024 NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE
“[Han Kang’s] intense poetic prose . . . exposes the fragility of human life.”—The Nobel Committee for Literature, in the citation for the Nobel Prize
- A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
- WINNER OF THE INTERNATIONAL BOOKER PRIZE
- ONE OF THE NEW YORK TIMES’S 100 BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY
- ONE OF THE GUARDIAN’S 100 BEST NOVELS OF ALL TIME
- A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST FICTION BOOK OF THE CENTURY
“Ferocious.”—The New York Times Book Review (Ten Best Books of the Year)
“Both terrifying and terrific.”—Lauren Groff
“Provocative [and] shocking.”—The Washington Post
Before the nightmares began, Yeong-hye and her husband lived an ordinary, controlled life. But the dreams—invasive images of blood and brutality—torture her, driving Yeong-hye to purge her mind and renounce eating meat altogether. It’s a small act of independence, but it interrupts her marriage and sets into motion an increasingly grotesque chain of events at home. As her husband, her brother-in-law and sister each fight to reassert their control, Yeong-hye obsessively defends the choice that’s become sacred to her. Soon their attempts turn desperate, subjecting first her mind, and then her body, to ever more intrusive and perverse violations, sending Yeong-hye spiraling into a dangerous, bizarre estrangement, not only from those closest to her, but also from herself.
Celebrated by critics around the world, The Vegetarian is a darkly allegorical, Kafka-esque tale of power, obsession, and one woman’s struggle to break free from the violence both without and within her.
A Best Book of the Year: BuzzFeed, Entertainment Weekly, Wall Street Journal, Time, Elle, The Economist, HuffPost, Slate, Bustle, The St. Louis Dispatch, Electric Literature, Publishers Weekly
Source: amazon.com
Sponsors
The Sejong Cultural Society gratefully acknowledges support from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, DB Kim Jun Ki Foundation, Bisco Foundation, and the Literature Translation Institute of Korea.
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