Viet Thanh Nguyen

Viet Thanh Nguyen is an internationally renowned author, a Pulitzer prize winner, and an associate professor at the University of Southern California. He is well known for his critically acclaimed novels The Sympathizer, The Refugees, The Committed, and Nothing Ever Dies, which incorporate themes of identity and explore the multifaceted experience of being a refugee.

Born in Vietnam, Nguyen immigrated to the United States in June 1975, just weeks before the Fall of Saigon. He was just four years old when his family arrived in San Jose, California, becoming a refugee due to the Vietnam War. This experience has had a profound influence on his writing, exploring themes of home, displacement, and identity.

Nguyen began writing as an undergraduate student, exploring what it really meant to be an "American" and learning to explore his identity. He continued to write throughout his academic career, earning a Masters of Fine Arts in creative writing from University of California, Davis and a Ph.D. in English from Berkeley.

Nguyen is the author of five novels and four books of nonfiction. His debut novel, The Sympathizer, was released in 2015 and went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. The novel follows a Viet Cong captain and his struggles to fit into both American and Vietnamese cultures. Nguyen followed this success up with The Refugees, a short story collection which was a finalist for the Pen/Faulkner Award and the Edgar Award. His most recent novel, The Committed, was released in 2021 and follows the life of Bon, a Vietnamese refugee in France.

In additions to his writings, Nguyen has been an outspoken advocate for refugee causes and human rights, speaking out against American policies with regards to refugees, such as President Trump's attempted Muslim ban. He has also served on the advisory board for the International Rescue Committee, was co-producer for the Emmy award-winning documentary The Feeling of Being Watched, and received honors from the National Book Foundation and the California State Senate.

Throughout his works, Nguyen has sought to provide readers with an insight into the refugee experience, and to shine a light on the injustices suffered by those communities. As an immigrant himself, Nguyen is able to provide a unique and powerful voice to these issues. His writing has earned acclaim from critics and readers alike, and his advocacy efforts have made him a prominent voice in the refugee discourse.