Human Acts

Human Acts (Sonyeoni onda (소년이 온다)) is a South Korean novel written by Han Kang. The novel draws upon the democratization uprising that occurred on May 18, 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 Malaparte Prize.