Refugees, optimism and literary roots: Viet Thanh Nguyen and Mohsin Hamid in conversation
Viet Thanh Nguyen and Mohsin Hamid discuss the refugee crisis and their own books in this for Los Angeles Public Library ALOUD. Among critic at large Viet Thanh Nguyen’s many accomplishments is his acclaimed short story collection “The Refugees.” In April he spoke to Mohsin Hamid, whose novel “Exit West” was a finalist for the […]
61 unmissable books to read this spring
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Displaced is listed in Stylist’s spring book list. Original article by Francesca Brown published on Stylist. The Bank Holiday season is upon us and to revitalise, refresh and reboot your reading list, we’ve compiled the best new titles arriving this spring. From the breakthrough novels, addictive true-crime reporting and moving memoirs […]
Pulitzer Prize Winner Viet Thanh Nguyen Talks Parking Lots and Refugees at The Egyptian
Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses The Sympathizer and refugees at The Egyptian Theatre. Original article by Harrison Berry published on Boise Weekly. On stage before a packed house at the Egyptian Theatre Tuesday evening, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and MacArthur Grant recipient Viet Thanh Nguyen spoke of his obsession with displaced people. “I am a refugee—was a refugee,” he said. “It’s a distinction […]
Spies Like Us: A Professor Undercover in the Literary Marketplace
Timothy K. August discusses The Sympathizer and other novels by Viet Thanh Nguyen in this review for Literature Interpretation Theory. Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize win has fundamentally changed the way Vietnamese American writing is read. Or at least Nguyen is actively trying to change the way that Vietnamese American writing is read. Leveraging the access that […]
How Viet Thanh Nguyen found his voice
Colleen Walsh writes about Viet Thanh Nguyen’s discussion about identity, politics, and politics in his books Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University. Pulitzer Prize-winning ‘Sympathizer’ novelist returns to Radcliffe for reading, discussion He is haunted by conflict between country and culture, revolution and redemption, embrace and exclusion, and, perhaps most of all, between a yearning […]
IN CONVERSATION WITH VIET THANH NGUYEN: ON DIASPORA & CULTURE AS PLURALITY
Dao Strom discusses the founding of diaCRITICS and the Vietnamese culture with Viet Thanh Nguyen in this interview. This is a conversation interview conducted by Dao Strom, new editor of diaCRITICS, with Viet Thanh Nguyen, author, founder and publisher of diaCRITICS. IN CONVERSATION WITH VIET THANH NGUYEN: DS: When did you start diaCRITICS? Can you tell us […]
What I’ve learned from my 4-year-old
Originally published in the New York Times. LOS ANGELES — A bathroom at 4:45 a.m. is quiet. I try to wake at this time, three hours before my 4-year-old son does, so I can write, even in a hotel bathroom. I have not checked email, Twitter or Instagram, and last year I got off Facebook. I […]
Author Viet Thanh Nguyen on Writing About Refugees
In this interview for Aspen Words, Viet Thanh Nguyen discusses the challenges of writing The Refugees and the power of writing. Aspen Words will confer the inaugural $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize this year, recognizing a work of fiction with social impact. Twenty nominees are still in the running, and the diverse list includes 12 novels and eight short […]
Forgetting and Remembering
In this interview for Jacobin Magazine, Yahya Chaudhry and Viet Nguyen discuss the self-serving stories the US state tells about the Vietnam War. “I come here mindful of the past, mindful of our difficult history,” Barack Obama said during a May 2016 visit to Vietnam, “but focused on the future — the prosperity, security, and human dignity that […]
The eyes silent to see the wound
Nguyen Vinh Nguyen reviews The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen for Tuổi Trẻ. TTCT – Ấy là khi con mắt nhìn vào vết thương cộng đồng vừa như kẻ dự phần nhưng vừa đứng cao hơn mọi định kiến để thấy đó là một mối cơ khổ phổ quát của nhân loại khi chiến tranh, đói […]
Nguyen Thanh Viet – Refugees
In this review for Tiếp Thị Thế Giới, Ngân Hà discusses The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Phần lớn người Việt Nam đọc sách, xem phim, hay bất kỳ một tác phẩm nghệ thuật nào đều thích có “thông điệp” – nó là một từ phổ biến đến nỗi ngay khi một người bạn biết tôi […]
21 books we loved in 2017
Amy Wang of Oregon Live reviews The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Viet Thanh Nguyen, “The Refugees” (Grove Atlantic, 240 pages, $16) This collection of short stories is thematically united around the experience of Vietnamese immigrants following the Vietnam War, but in every other way differs beautifully in its approach (sometimes realist, as in “The […]
Best of 2017: 100 recommended books
The San Francisco Chronicle reviews The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen and lists it on its 2017 recommended book list. The Refugees, by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove; 209 pages; $25). Nguyen’s stories take a quietly profound peek into the lives of Vietnam’s deracinated and dispossessed.
The Best Reviewed Books of 2017: Short Story Collections
The Literary Hub reviews The Refugees and lists it in Best Reviewed Books of 2017. 4. The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen (12 Rave, 5 Positive) “The collection is full of refugees, whether from external turmoil – natural or manmade disasters – or from a deeper, more internal conflict between even those who are closest to each […]
Top 15 Books by Novelists of Colour Published in 2017
Samira Sawlani reviews The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen for Media Diversified in this 2017 list for Top 15 Books by Novelists of Color. The Refugees, By Viet Thanh Nguyen Timely, touching and traumatic. This collection of short stories centred by Vietnamese- American writer Viet Thanh Nguyen is dedicated to ‘all refugees everywhere’, and is both […]
