The South Korean writer behind the bestselling memoir I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki has died at the age of 35, reports the BBC. Baek Se-hee's cause of death was not immediately clear. Her 2018 book, which captured candid conversations about her depression with her psychiatrist, became a sensation in South Korea and found a global audience after its English release in 2022.
"The human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too," she wrote in its most famous line, referring to the popular Korean snack—rice cakes usually served in a spicy sauce. Baek "wanted to write, to share her heart with others through her work, and to inspire hope," said her sister, per the Guardian. "Knowing her gentle nature, incapable of harboring hatred, I hope she can now rest peacefully."
Baek spent five years working at a publishing house before writing her breakout book. The memoir sold over a million copies, was translated into 25 languages, and is credited with helping to normalize discussions of mental health. She was open about her decade-long struggle with dysthymia, a persistent form of mild depression, which became the foundation for her writing. A sequel to I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki was released in Korean in 2019 and in English in 2024. (Those struggling with issues related to this story can dial 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.)
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