Han Kang’s We Do Not Part to Be Staged as Oiseau at Festival d’Avignon

Han Kang’s We Do Not Part will be presented at the 2026 Festival d’Avignon as Oiseau, a staged reading of the novel’s first chapter at the Cour d’honneur du palais des Papes. The production is part of the festival’s 2026 Korean-language focus, placing Han Kang’s work within the broader Korean Avignon Festival program.¹²

The official Festival d’Avignon program lists Oiseau as a performance based on Han Kang’s novel, presented by Julie Deliquet and performed by Isabelle Huppert and Hyeyoung Lee. The reading is presented in French and Korean, with French, English and Korean subtitles.¹

Han Kang’s We Do Not Part Becomes Oiseau

The Avignon presentation centers on the opening chapter of Han Kang’s novel. Korean coverage identifies the work as 작별하지 않는다 – 새, while the festival’s official English-language program uses the French title Oiseau.¹³

Festival d’Avignon also published an official audiovisual item dated April 8, 2026, identifying the project as a staged reading connected to Han Kang’s French-titled Impossible Goodbyes. That festival item names Han Kang, Julie Deliquet, Isabelle Huppert and Hyeyoung Lee in relation to the presentation at the Cour d’honneur.⁴

Yonhap News Agency reported that Huppert and Lee Hye-young will read the first chapter of Han Kang’s novel, which the report describes as being about the Jeju massacre. Yonhap also described Oiseau as a lecture-performance and placed it within the July 4-25 festival period.²

Hankook Ilbo reported from a May 21 press event that 작별하지 않는다 – 새 is co-produced with Festival d’Avignon and scheduled for July 15 and 16 at the Palais des Papes. The same report said Huppert and Lee will read the first chapter, titled “새” in Korean.³

Korean as the Festival’s 2026 Guest Language

The 2026 Festival d’Avignon runs from July 4 to July 25, and Korean has been designated as the guest language for the edition. Yonhap reported that Korean works, including Han Kang’s, are returning to the Avignon Festival after 28 years.²

Hankook Ilbo reported that nine Korean works were invited to the official program of the 80th Festival d’Avignon. The report quoted festival director Tiago Rodrigues in Korean as saying, “한국어에 역사적 깊이와 동시대 창작의 흐름이 공존하고 있다는 점이 초청 언어 선정의 가장 큰 이유였다.”³

Yonhap separately quoted Rodrigues as saying the Han Kang invitation is “an invitation to one of the great writers of our time.”² The comment was reported in connection with the festival’s presentation of Oiseau and the wider Korean-language program.

The Korean-language focus extends beyond the Avignon dates. Yonhap reported that the program will later make its Asian debut in South Korea through the Seoul Performing Arts Festival.²

Related Han Kang Conversation at Avignon

Festival d’Avignon’s official program also lists a Café des idées event titled How can we write about snow? – 어떻게 눈 위에 흔적을 남길 수 있을까? The listing says Laure Adler will meet Han Kang, identified by the festival as the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, for a conversation framed around memory, silence and transmission. The event is linked on the festival site to the Oiseau program.⁵

Maeil Business Newspaper reported on July 1 that France Tourism introduced a South of France cultural route centered on the 80th Avignon Festival and Lee Ufan’s special exhibition marking the 140th anniversary of Korea-France diplomatic relations. The report highlighted 작별하지 않는다 – 새(Oiseau) as a July 15-16 reading at the Cour d’honneur with Isabelle Huppert and Lee Hye-young, and said Han Kang is also expected to join a talk program on her work, memory and transmission.⁶

For Avignon’s 2026 edition, Oiseau brings Han Kang’s We Do Not Part into a major festival setting through a bilingual staged reading, while the related conversation program and Korean guest-language designation place the work within a broader cultural presentation linking literature, performance and Korean-language creation.

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Cloi Lee

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