From the daily newsletter: the first South Korean to win a Nobel Prize in Literature. Plus: the Saudi Princesses held captive, Donald Trump’s “bro-cast” tour, and Saoirse Ronan outshines “The Outrun.”

H AN KANG has been called “Korea’s Kafka”. Rather than giant bugs, her metamorphoses involve vegetation. “The Fruit of My Woman”, a short story, imagines a wife becoming a (withered) houseplant. “The Vegetarian”, a prizewinning novel, depicts a woman consumed by her desire to sprout roots and become a tree.

For some, Thursday's surprise announcement - Han had not been on any of the major lists of likely Nobel winners - fuelled hope that the land of K-pop and "Squid Game" might get an