US book critics honor Nobel laureate and South Korean novelist Han Kang

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The National Book Critics Circle honored a novel by Nobel laureate Han Kang and Karen Hao’s examination of artificial intelligence and OpenAI at its annual awards on Thursday

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US book critics honor Nobel laureate and South Korean novelist Han Kang

The National Book Critics Circle honored a novel by Nobel laureate Han Kang and Karen Hao’s examination of artificial intelligence and OpenAI at its annual awards on Thursday

ByAUDREY MCAVOY Associated PressMarch 26, 2026, 8:10 PM

A novel by Nobel laureate Han Kang, Karen Hao's examination of artificial intelligence and OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT) and a memoir by the author Arundhati Roy were among the winners Thursday of the annual National Book Critics Circle awards.

Han's "We Do Not Part,” translated by e.yaewon and Paige Aniyah Morris, addresses a 1948-1949 uprising on Jeju, an island south of the Korean mainland, in which thousands of people were killed.

Heather Scott Partington, who chaired the awards' fiction committee, described the novel as “a work of blinding melancholy, bleak weather, and murmuring syntax” and said it "lingers like an atmospheric and arresting dream.”

The lifetime achievement award went to author and journalist Frances FitzGerald, whose 1972 "Fire in the Lake” was an early and prescient take on the Vietnam War.

NPR and PBS were presented with the achievement award honoring institutions that have made significant contributions to book culture.

"At a time when some question the value of public, service-minded media, we salute PBS and NPR for all you have done for both book culture and American democracy,” said Jacob M. Appel, who chaired the selection process for the award.

Winners of other categories:

— Hao's “Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman’s OpenAI” won for nonfiction.

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— Roy's “Mother Mary Comes to Me” won for autobiography.

— Alex Green's “A Perfect Turmoil: Walter E. Fernald and the Struggle to Care for America’s Disabled” won for biography.

— Kevin Young's “Night Watch” won for poetry.

— “Sad Tiger” by Neige Sinno and translated by Natasha Lehrer won the translation prize honoring both the author and translator.

The National Book Critics Circle was founded in New York in 1974 and consists of more than 850 critics and editors. Its annual awards honor the best books published in the past year in the United States.