Winner of the Pulitzer Prize

The MLK Speech We Need Today Is Not the One We Remember Most

Viet Thanh Nguyen writes about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1967 speech, “Beyond Vietnam”, and its messages for this article on TIME. Most Americans remember Martin Luther King Jr. for his dream of what this country could be, a nation where his children would “not be judged by the color of their skin but by […]

I Love America. That’s Why I Have to Tell the Truth About It

Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer, talks about immigration in America and his experiences as a Vietnamese refugee in this essay for TIME. Love it or leave it. Have you heard someone say this? Or have you said it? Anyone who has heard these five words knows what it means, because it almost always refers to America. Anyone who has heard this sentence knows it is a loaded gun, pointed […]

Pulitzer Winner Viet Thanh Nguyen on His New Book The Refugees

Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses The Refugees with Sarah Begley in this interview for TIME. Viet Thanh Nguyen had a pretty spectacular 2016: his debut novel, The Sympathizer, about a Vietnamese double agent who goes to California after the Vietnam War, won the Pulitzer Prize after selling only 22,000 copies in hardcover. Thanks to that and other […]

The Immigrant’s Fate Is Everyone’s

The following article was originally published in the July 11, 2016 issue of TIME. I am an immigrant. I am also a human being, an American, a Vietnamese, an Asian and a refugee. I do not have to choose among these identities, despite those who would insist that I do. On one end of the spectrum, […]