{"id":235203,"date":"2025-10-19T01:11:35","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T01:11:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/235203\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T01:11:35","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T01:11:35","slug":"baek-se-hee-author-of-bestselling-memoir-i-want-to-die-but-i-want-to-eat-tteokbokki-dead-at-35","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/235203\/","title":{"rendered":"Baek Se-hee, author of bestselling memoir \u2018I Want To Die But I Want To Eat Tteokbokki,\u2019 dead at 35"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note: If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, help is available. Dial or text 988 or visit 988lifeline.org<\/a> for free and confidential support.<\/p>\n

South Korean<\/a> author Baek Se-hee, who wrote the bestselling memoir<\/a> \u201cI Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki,\u201d has died at age 35, the Korean Organ Donation Agency announced on Thursday.<\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s statement did not give the cause of Baek\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

Her book blended memoir and self-help, detailing her conversations with her psychiatrist as she grappled with conflicting feelings of wanting to die but also enjoying small pleasures like tteokbokki, a popular South Korean street food that was her favorite dish.<\/p>\n

\"Baek's<\/p>\n

Baek’s book detailed her discussions with her therapist. (Bloomsbury Publishing)<\/p>\n

With its frank and thoughtful discussions about therapy and mental health, the book became immensely popular in South Korea when it was published in 2018. Once it was translated into English in 2022, it became popular overseas, too, reaching the Sunday Times Bestsellers List in the United Kingdom and receiving a recommendation in the New York Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when I changed all the parts of my life that I had wanted to change \u2014 my weight, education, partner and friends \u2014 I was still depressed,\u201d she wrote. \u201cI didn\u2019t always feel that way, but I would go in and out of a funk that was as inevitable as bad weather.\u201d<\/p>\n

She wrote another memoir in 2019, titled \u201cI Want to Die but I Still Want to Eat Tteokbokki,\u201d about her continuing struggles of living with dysthymia, a constant low-level depression.<\/p>\n

Born in 1990, the second of three daughters, Baek studied creative writing at university. It was while she was working as a social media director at a publishing house that she underwent treatment for depression and wrote her memoir.<\/p>\n

Baek\u2019s younger sister, Baek Da-hee, paid tribute to her sibling in a statement released via the organ donation agency, remembe ring her as someone who \u201cwrote, shared her heart with others through her writing, and hoped to nurture dreams of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know her kind heart, one that loved so much and hated no one, so I hope she now rests in peace in heaven. I love you so much,\u201d her sister added.<\/p>\n

Baek donated her heart, lungs, liver and both kidneys when she died, saving the lives of five people, the organ donation agency said.<\/p>\n

Anton Hur, Baek\u2019s English translator and fellow author, paid tribute to her in an Instagram post<\/a>, saying that \u201cher readers will know she touched yet millions of lives more with her writing. My thoughts are with her family.\u201d<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Gawon Bae contributed reporting.<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n