Award-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen continues to gain recognition for his bold, elegant, and fiercely honest writing. His remarkable debut novel, The Sympathizer, won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize and made the finalist list for the 2016 PEN/Faulkner award. His collection of short stories, The Refugees, was released in 2017. Nguyen and his family came to the United States as refugees during the Vietnam War. Growing up in America, he noticed that most movies and books about the war focused on Americans while the Vietnamese were silenced and erased. He was inspired by this lack of representation to write about the war from a Vietnamese perspective. The New York Times says that his novel, “fills a void…giving voice to the previously voiceless while it compels the rest of us to look at the events of forty years ago in a new light.” His voice is refreshing and powerful as he urges readers to examine the legacy of that tumultuous time and its aftermath from a new perspective. He is currently the Chair of the English Department at the University of Southern California where he is also an associate professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity.
In October 2017, Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Foundation Fellowship grant.
Part of The Center’s BIG IDEA project This Land is Whose Land?
Viet Thanh Nguyen’s lecture is presented in partnership with The Community Library and has been generously supported by an anonymous gift and Marcia & Don Liebich.
2017/2018 Lecture Series
James B. Stewart
“Truth Matters: How Fake News and False Statements Undermine America”
Thu, Oct 19, 2017, 6:30pm (DATE CHANGE: Please note this lecture date has changed from the originally published date of Oct 12)
Ruth Reichl
“Protect What We Eat”
Thu, Feb 8, 2018, 6:30pm
Viet Thanh Nguyen
“An Evening with Viet Thanh Nguyen”
Thu, Mar 8, 2018, 6:30pm
2017/2018 Lecture Series On Sale Dates
Fri, Sep 15, 10am
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS on sale to MEMBERS ONLY
Fri, Sep 22, 10am
ALL TICKETS on sale to the GENERAL PUBLIC