Jiyoung Han

Jiyoung Han's debut novel, Honey in the Wound, will make you shudder and cry. Following three generations of one Korean family from 1931 to the present, the story's focus is the enslaved Korean comfort women during the Japanese colonization. It also focuses on the women's ability to survive and thrive as they take back their own power, whether through magic, cunning, or violence. The story is a realistic portrayal of the trauma the women endured, and Han wants this story told. It is historically accurate and, to this day, survivors wait outside the Japanese Embassy in Seoul for an apology from the Japanese government.

Born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in the American Midwest, Han is a graduate of the University of Chicago and earned her master's degree from Harvard University. A scientist as well as a writer, Han currently lives in San Francisco, where she balances her literary career with research on climate change.

"Han has incorporated extensive research into a revelatory work of harrowing fiction. . . . [Han] validates the hidden powers of 'powerless' women." — Kirkus