Baek Se-hee, the South Korean author of the bestselling memoir I Want to Die but I Want To Eat Tteokbokki has died at the age of 35.
Her 2018 book, a compilation of conversations with her psychiatrist about her depression, was a cultural phenomenon with its themes of mental health resonating with readers across the world.
Originally written in Korean, it found international acclaim after its English translation was published in 2022.
The details surrounding her death are unclear.
Baek donated her organs – her heart, lungs, liver and kidneys – which have helped to save five lives, the Korean Organ Donation Agency said in a statement on Friday.
The statement also included comments from her sister, which said that Baek had wanted to “share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope”.
I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki, published in 2018, has sold more than a million copies worldwide and been translated in 25 countries.
The runaway bestseller was celebrated for normalising mental health conversations and its nuanced take on inner struggles – most notably, the author’s personal conflict between depressive thoughts and her appreciation for simple joys.
“The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too,” goes the book’s most famous line. Tteokbokki, which are tubular chewy rice cakes usually eaten with a spicy sauce or stew, is a popular snack in Korean cuisine.
Born in 1990, Baek Se-hee took creative writing in university and worked for five years at a publishing house, according to her short biography on Bloomsbury Publishing, which produced the English version of her 2018 memoir.
Anton Hur, who had translated Baek’s book into English, wrote on Instagram that her organs have saved five people but “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 received treatment for dysthymia, a mild but long-lasting type of depression, which formed the basis of her bestseller, said her Bloomsbury bio.
A sequel, I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki, was published in Korean in 2019. Its English translation was published in 2024.
Tributes have poured in on social media. “Rest softly,” reads a comment on Baek’s Instagram page. “Thank you for saving us with your honesty.”
Another Instagram user said each time they read Baek’s memoir they found “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 list of organisations in the UK offering support and information with some of the issues in this story is available at BBC Action Line. If you are outside of the UK, you can visit the Befrienders website.
