Human Acts

Human Acts
AuthorHan Kang
Original title소년이 온다
lit "A Boy Comes"
TranslatorDeborah Smith
LanguageKorean
GenreContemporary fiction
Literary fiction
Set inGwangju, South Korea
PublisherChangbi Publishers (KOR)
Portobello Books (UK)
Hogarth (UK, US)
Publication date
19 May 2014 (KOR)
3 November 2016 (UK)
17 October 2017 (UK, US)
Publication placeSouth Korea
Media typePrint
Pages215 pp
ISBN9788936434120

Human Acts (Korean: 소년이 온다; RR: Sonyeoni onda; lit. A Boy Comes) is a South Korean novel written by Han Kang. The novel draws upon the democratization uprising that occurred on 18 May 1980, in Gwangju, Korea. In the novel, one boy's death provides the impetus for a dimensional look into the Gwangju Uprising and the lives of the people in that city. Human Acts won Korea's Manhae Prize for Literature and Italy's Premio Malaparte.