American Writers’ Week: Viet Thanh Nguyen

For his novel The Sympathizer he was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction, alongside seven other prizes. He is also the author The Committed, which continues the story of The Sympathizer; the short story collection The Refugees; the nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies, a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award; the children's book Chicken of the Sea, with his son Ellison and with Thi Bui and Hien Bui-Stafford. Viet is the editor of an anthology of refugee writing, The Displaced, as well as the co-editor of The Cleaving: Vietnamese Writers in the Diaspora. His most recent book, To Save and to Destroy, explores the idea of being an outsider. He is a University Professor and the Aerol Arnold Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California and a recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur foundations. He lives in Los Angeles.

He is the editor of the bestselling essay collection, The Good Immigrant, which was recently re published to mark its tenth anniversary. He wrote the 2023 Spider-Man India miniseries ‘Seva’ for Marvel, as well as numerous television projects. He won multiple awards for writing the short film Two Dosas starring Himesh Patel and has worked in multiple writer’s rooms including on projects for Apple TV, Amazon Prime, HBO and Sky. He is the author of the novels Coconut Unlimited (shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award), Meatspace and The One Who Wrote Destiny and his memoir Brown Baby was longlisted for the Jhalak Prize. Nikesh is also the author of the children’s series, The Council Of Good Friends and three YA novels, Run, Riot (shortlisted for a National Book Award), The Boxer (longlisted for the Carnegie Medal) and Stand Up. He co-edited The Good Immigrant USA with Chimene Suleyman. He has an extensive past in teaching creative writing mentoring writers who have gone on to become bestsellers and award-winners. Nikesh is the co-founder of The Good Literary Agency. He was one of Time Magazine’s cultural leaders and The Bookseller's 100 most influential people in publishing in 2016 and in 2017.