South Korean author Baek Se-hee, whose writing gave voice to quiet struggles with depression, has died at the age of 35. Her sudden death has left readers across the world grieving a storyteller whose words made many feel their vulnerability.
Baek rose to fame with her 2018 memoir I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, a slim book built around her therapy conversations and everyday reflections on mental health. It was widely read in South Korea and beyond and was later translated into more than 25 languages for its disarming honesty. The English version, published by Bloomsbury in 2022, introduced her to a global audience.
The words that saved millions
According to the Korean Organ Donation Agency, Baek donated her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys, saving five lives. In a statement, her sister said Baek had always wanted to “share her heart with others through her work and to inspire hope.”
Her English translator Anton Hur wrote on Instagram, “Her organs saved five people, but her words saved millions more.”
Baek studied creative writing before working in publishing. She lived with dysthymia which is a long-term form of depression that has somehow shaped her writing. Her honesty helped normalise conversations about mental health in a society where such topics are often silenced.
A quiet voice that echoed loudly
One of her most-quoted lines captures the paradox she lived with: “The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too.” The simple image of finding comfort in food while battling despair became symbolic of her writing.
Her follow-up book, I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, was published in 2019 and translated into English in 2024.
Messages of grief and gratitude have filled Baek’s social media pages. “Thank you for saving us with your honesty,” one reader wrote. Another said, “Each time I read your book, I felt seen.”
Baek Se-hee is gone too soon, but her tender and true voice continues to remind readers everywhere that even the smallest joys can keep us alive.
