Nobel Prize. Yeah, so nice to talk with you. And yeah, very nice to talk to you too. Please let me first express my congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much. How are you feeling right now? I'm so surprised and I am honoured. How did you find out about the prize? Someone called me and he talked to me about this news. So of course I was surprised and I just finished a dinner with my son and in Korea it is just like eight o'clock in the evening. It's a very peaceful evening. I was really surprised. And you're in your home in Seoul? Yeah, I'm at home in Seoul. And what have you been doing today? Today? I didn't work today and I just read a bit and I took a walk. It was kind of a very easy day for me. So you said you're with your son. What was his reaction to this? My son was surprised as well. But we didn't have much time to talk about this. We were surprised and that's all. I imagine. What does it mean to you getting the Nobel Prize in literature? Yes, I'm honoured and I really appreciate your support, the support of the prize and I just appreciate it.

You're the first literature laureate from South Korea. How does that feel?

Yes, I grew up with books. So since when I was a child, I grew up with books in Korean and translated as well. So I can say I grew up with Korean literature, which I feel very close. So

I hope this news is nice for Korean literature readers and my friends, writers and yeah.

You said you come from a literary background, you could say. What writers have been your most important sources of inspiration? For me, since when I was a child, writers, all the writers have been collective. They are searching meanings in life and sometimes they are lost and sometimes they are determined and all their efforts and all their strengths, they have been my inspiration. So it's very difficult for me to pick some names of inspiration. It's very difficult for me. So I read that the Swedish author Astrid Lindgren has been one source of inspiration for you. Yeah, when I was a child, I loved her book Lionheart Brothers. Yeah, I love that book. But I cannot say she's the only writer who inspired me in my childhood because when I read that book, Lionheart Brothers, I could relate it with my questions about humans or life and death and you know. Yeah, for someone just discovering your work, where would you suggest they start? Among my books, I think every writer likes his or her most recent book. So my most recent book is We Do Not Part or it's called I Do Not

Part. So yeah, I hope this book could be a start and human acts is connected directly with this book

We Do Not Part. And then The Right Book, which is a very personal book for me because it is quite autobiographical. And there is the vegetarian. But I feel the start could be We Do Not Part. For an international audience, maybe the vegetarian is most well known. What would you say that particular novel has meant for you?

I wrote it for three years and those three years were kind of difficult years for me for some reasons. So I think I was struggling to find the images of this protagonist, people who are surrounding her and the image of trees and sunlight and everything was so vivid in those three years. Yeah, and I will let you go in a short while. I just, do you have any ideas on how you will celebrate this Nobel Prize?

After this phone call, I'd like to have tea with, I don't drink, so I'm going to have tea with my son and I will celebrate it quietly tonight.

Very nice. Yes. Many congratulations again.

You're welcome.

Yeah. Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Okay. Goodbye.

Take care. Bye-bye.

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