Author Baek Se-hee dies at 35, saves 5 lives through organ donation

Baek Se-hee, the South Korean author whose bestselling memoir candidly explored living with depression, died at age 35, the Korean Organ Donation Agency announced last week.

About Baek and her work: Born in 1990, Baek studied creative writing before working five years as a social media director at a publishing house. Her 2018 book “I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki,” whose sales later surpassed 1 million copies across more than 25 countries, drew from therapy sessions with her psychiatrist as she grappled with dysthymia, a mild but persistent type of depression. The title refers to “tteokbokki,” a Korean dish of chewy rice cakes in spicy sauce that Baek loved.

The memoir sold around 600,000 copies in South Korea and gained recognition for addressing mental health stigma with its plain-spoken honesty. “Even when I changed all the parts of my life that I had wanted to change — my weight, education, partner and friends — I was still depressed,” she wrote.

Millions of lives touched: Officials have not disclosed the cause of her death. In a statement, Baek Da-hee, the author’s younger sister, said Baek “wrote, shared her heart with others through her writing, and hoped to nurture dreams of hope.”

Anton Hur, who translated the memoir into English, wrote on Instagram that Baek’s organ donations saved five people, adding that “her readers will know she touched yet millions of lives more with her writing.” Readers have also paid tribute online, with one Instagram user writing, “Rest softly. Thank you for saving us with your honesty.”

In an earlier interview with the Korea Herald, Baek herself reflected, “Even across different languages and cultures, I realized that the feeling of a ‘wounded heart’ is the same everywhere.”