This year's prize is the first to go to a South Korean author – which translator Anders Karlsson believes will be celebrated with "a lot of fireworks".
Karlsson, who did not have access to his mobile and therefore found out about this year's winner only later in the afternoon, has not been in contact with Han Kang after the Swedish Academy's announcement.
That she could be awarded a Nobel Prize, he has long had in the back of his mind – but that it happened already this year, he describes as a great surprise considering her relatively young age (54 years).
Anders Karlsson says that Han Kang's hallmark lies in her exceptional observational ability, which she manages to condense into a very precise language.
She is not afraid to, without prejudice, take on terrible things that have happened and delve into the psychology behind them. These are not easy books in that sense, but with her straightforward and direct language, she can talk about these things and make them accessible.
