Nobel prize in literature 2025 is announced – live

11.04am BST Last year’s Nobel Prize in literature went to Han Kang, the South Korean novelist celebrated for her lyrical, unsettling explorations of violence, memory and the human body. Born in Gwangju, South Korea, in 1970, Han first gained international prominence with The Vegetarian, a haunting novel about a woman’s quiet rebellion against social expectations. The book won the Man Booker International prize in 2016, making Han the first Korean author to receive the award. Her work is often described as poetic, precise and quietly devastating, combining spare prose with searing emotional depth. Themes of trauma, collective memory and the search for dignity in the face of brutality run through much of her writing, shaped in part by the legacy of South Korea’s turbulent political history. Han grew up in Gwangju, the site of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising, an event that would profoundly influence her later work. In Human Acts, she turned to this history directly, crafting a devastating portrait of the aftermath of state violence through multiple interwoven voices. Over the years, she has explored grief, language and identity in works such as The White Book and Greek Lessons, with the latter shortlisted for the International Booker prize in 2023. Han’s Nobel win in 2024 was largely unexpected – the bookies had her at 30/1 – but widely celebrated as a landmark moment for Korean literature on the world stage. The Swedish Academy praised her “subtle, elliptical narratives that illuminate the fragile dignity of the individual amid collective trauma.” Read an interview with Han here. 11.01am BST Opening summary Welcome to the Guardian’s coverage of the Nobel prize in literature. The biggest day in the book world’s calendar has arrived: today, the next Nobel laureate in literature will be announced. Could it be Can Xue, the Chinese avant garde author who has been the bookies’ favourite several years running? Or perhaps Haruki Murakami, Margaret Atwood or Salman Rushdie, whose names are often in the mix of possible contenders? Or will it be someone totally unexpected? All will be revealed at 12pm BST (1pm CEST) at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Join Emma Loffhagen, Philip Oltermann and me over the next hour as we share updates, trivia and speculation about the prize.