CANON FODDER
Originally published in The Washington Post. Books by immigrants, foreigners and minorities don’t diminish the ‘classic’ curriculum. They enhance it. In 1992, as a first-year PhD student at Berkeley, I told the English department chairman, a famous Americanist, that I wanted to write a dissertation on Vietnamese and Vietnamese American literature. “You can’t do that,” […]
April Preview: The Millions Most Anticipated (This Month)
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Displaced is featured in The Millions list of the most anticipated books for the month of April. We wouldn’t dream of abandoning our vast semi–annual Most Anticipated Book Previews, but we thought a monthly reminder would be helpful (and give us a chance to note titles we missed the first time around). Here’s what we’re looking out […]
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 […]
This refugee’s stories relatable to all Americans
Rege Behe, ahead of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s appearance at Carnegie Music Hall on April 9, discusses the author’s experiences as a refugee for The Tribune-Review. Viet Thanh Nguyen earned a Pulitzer Prize for “The Sympathizers,” his debut novel. His second book “The Refugees,” a collection of short stories, also was critically acclaimed. These books not only […]
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 […]
The Refugees Selected as California Book Awards Finalist
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees has been selected as a finalist for the 2018 California Book Awards. The annual California Book Awards, which began in 1931, recognize the state’s best writers and illuminate the wealth and diversity of literature written in California. Monetary prizes are given in the categories of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, juvenile literature, young […]
Confessions of a “complicated” spy
This review of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer by Nikos Xeniou was originally published by Book Press. «Ο ήρωάς μου είναι γυναικάς, αλκοολικός, κατάσκοπος κι επιπλέον δολοφόνος: πράγματα που εγώ δεν είμαι», δηλώνει σε συνέντευξή του ο βιετναμέζος-αμερικανός συγγραφέας Βιετ Ταν Νγκιεν θέλοντας να δηλώσει πόσο ελάχιστα αυτοβιογραφικό είναι το πρώτο του μυθιστόρημα Ο Συνοδοιπόρος που βραβεύτηκε, μεταξύ […]
Remembering Refugees’ Stories
Jaehun Lee of BC’s student newspaper The Heights reflects on Viet Thanh Nguyen’s appearance at the college as part of the Lowell Humanities Series. Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and Aerol Arnold Chair of English and professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, spoke on Wednesday evening as part of […]
Man of two minds
This review of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer by Robert Linens Jr. was originally published by the Times-News. Having dual faces is the basis of any spies’ profession. Intuition, their craft when recognizing the mask that opponents wear in moments of relating to an enemy. Though what if one’s own mask were much harder to remove, […]
A Vietnamese haunting in America
Andy Kerstetter of Idaho Mountain Express discusses The Sympathizer and Viet Thanh Nguyen’s experiences as a young refugee. No matter what he did, Viet Thanh Nguyen has always felt a pervasive sense of haunting—not so much like he was plagued by actual ghosts, but rather the specter of the past, particularly the Vietnam War and the fact that he […]
Complete fiction: why ‘the short story renaissance’ is a myth
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Refugees is listed as a notable short story collection in this article for The Guardian. Article by Chris Power originally published by The Guardian. In 2017, almost 50% more short story collections were sold than in the previous year. It was the best year for short stories since 2010. Booksellers are […]
Uses Excel to ensure his reading is diverse
This interview with Viet Thanh Nguyen ahead of his appearance at Boston College was conducted by Amy Sutherland for The Boston Globe. Viet Thanh Nguyen won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for his best-selling novel, “The Sympathizer,” the story of a Communist double agent who moves to the United States. Last year Nguyen, who emigrated with his […]
Author Viet Thanh Nguyen on the struggles of being a refugee in America
Entertainment Weekly discusses Viet Thanh Nguyen’s role as editor for The Displaced. Article by David Canfield originally published by Entertainment Weekly. For his next project, acclaimed author Viet Thanh Nguyen (The Sympathizer) has taken on the role of editor. Nguyen has edited the upcoming essay collection The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives, which includes 17 refugee […]
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 […]
