South Korean creator of I Want to Die However I Want to Eat Tteokbokki dies at 35

Baek Se-hee, the South Korean creator of the bestselling memoir I Want to Die however I Want To Eat Tteokbokki has died on the age of 35.

Her 2018 guide, a compilation of conversations together with her psychiatrist about her despair, was a cultural phenomenon with its themes of psychological well being resonating with readers the world over.

Originally written in Korean, it discovered worldwide acclaim after its English translation was revealed in 2022.

The particulars surrounding her demise are unclear.

Baek donated her organs – her coronary heart, lungs, liver and kidneys – which have helped to save lots of 5 lives, the Korean Organ Donation Agency stated in a press release on Friday.

The assertion additionally included feedback from her sister, which stated that Baek had wished to “share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope”.

I Want to Die however I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, revealed in 2018, has bought greater than one million copies worldwide and been translated in 25 international locations.

The runaway bestseller was celebrated for normalising psychological well being conversations and its nuanced tackle interior struggles – most notably, the creator’s private battle between depressive ideas and her appreciation for easy joys.

“The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too,” goes the guide’s most well-known line. Tteokbokki, that are tubular chewy rice muffins normally eaten with a spicy sauce or stew, is a well-liked snack in Korean delicacies.

Born in 1990, Baek Se-hee took inventive writing in college and labored for 5 years at a publishing home, in keeping with her brief biography on Bloomsbury Publishing, which produced the English model of her 2018 memoir.

Anton Hur, who had translated Baek’s guide into English, wrote on Instagram that her organs have saved 5 individuals however “her readers will know she touched yet millions of lives more with her writing”.

“My thoughts are with her family,” he wrote.

For a decade she obtained remedy for dysthymia, a light however long-lasting kind of despair, which shaped the idea of her bestseller, stated her Bloomsbury bio.

A sequel, I Want to Die however I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, was revealed in Korean in 2019. Its English translation was revealed in 2024.

Tributes have poured in on social media. “Rest softly,” reads a touch upon Baek’s Instagram web page. “Thank you for saving us with your honesty.”

Another Instagram consumer stated every time they learn Baek’s memoir they discovered “deep comfort in every sentence and grew alongside it”.

“To create a single book that can lift people up… is no easy task, and I have indescribable respect for you for achieving that,” they wrote.

A listing of organisations within the UK providing assist and data with a few of the points on this story is out there at BBC Action Line. If you’re exterior of the UK, you’ll be able to go to the Befrienders website.