WASHINGTON — Baek Se-hee, the South Korean writer known for her memoir “I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki,” which captivated readers globally, has passed away at the age of 35.

The Korea Organ and Tissue Donation Agency confirmed her passing on Friday. In a translated announcement, Lee Sam-yeol, the agency’s director, expressed gratitude for her organ donation.

“I extend my heartfelt thanks to donor Baek Se-hee and her family for their generous and kind spirits. Baek Se-hee, whose touching words provided solace and hope to many, shared her love even in her final moments, turning into a life-saving miracle and a fresh start for others,” he remarked. “I trust that Baek Se-hee’s life-saving contributions will inspire a healthier and more optimistic society.”

According to the agency’s statement, Baek donated her heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys to several recipients. The cause of her death has not been disclosed.

Born in 1990, Baek studied creative writing at university and worked at a publishing company for five years. During that time, she was diagnosed with dysthymia, a mild but persistent form of depression. 

The therapy she went to was the basis for her memoir, which was self-published in 2018. The book, “I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki,” focuses on a series of conversations Baek has with a psychiatrist about her disease and how it affected her perceptions of the world. 

Later that year, it was picked up by Heun Publishing for wider distribution. In 2022, an English translation was published in the U.K.

The book was a success both domestically in South Korea and internationally after the translation. Critics praised the novel’s candid descriptions of mental health struggles and relatability.  

Baek wrote a sequel, “I Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki,” in 2019. That sequel was translated to English in 2024. 

In a statement, her editors at her U.K. publisher Bloomsbury, praised her “vulnerability and candour” while facing down depression. 

“The generosity Baek Sehee showed in sharing her own story with such vulnerability and candor cannot be understated, and both Bloomsbury and Sehee’s very many readers are grateful to her, and to her translator Anton Hur, with whom she had the most warm and trusting relationship, for these books,” the statement reads. “Her impact on readers has been enormous, and it was with great joy but no huge surprise to us that they graced the bestseller lists in the UK and elsewhere. To read her books is to want to talk about them. She sought connection, always, and wanted her words to be of help and consolation. She achieved this and so much more. It has been the greatest privilege, and a great responsibility, to bring her work to the English language, and we share our deepest condolences with her family, and those who knew her.”