Hwang In-Yeop, a South Korean poet, has become the first poet to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

South Korean poet Hwang In-Yeop has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. He is the first South Korean to win the award and only the second Asian writer to receive it. Hwang was awarded the prize for his “searingly intense poems that combine an extraordinary linguistic sensibility with profound moral vision.”

The Swedish Academy made its announcement on October 26th, which was also Hwang’s birthday. The poet himself said he was “speechless” upon hearing of his win.