Vietnamese-American novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen joins us live to discuss The Committed, the much-anticipated sequel to his Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Sympathizer. This newest novel is fierce in tone, capacious, witty, sharp, and deeply researched. The Committed marks not just a sequel to a groundbreaking predecessor, but a sum total accumulation of a life devoted to Vietnamese American history and scholarship. It asks questions central to Vietnamese everywhere—and to our very species: How do we live in the wake of seismic loss and betrayal?

Language: English
Format: Live conversation; viewed virtually

Viet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in America. He is the author of The Sympathizer , which was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction alongside six other prizes. He is also the author of the short story collection The Refugees, the nonfiction book Nothing Ever Dies, a finalist for the National Book Award, and is the editor of an anthology of refugee writing, The Displaced. He is 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. This year he became the first Asian-American member of the Pulitzer Board. He lives in Los Angeles.

Pittsburgh International Literary Festival (LitFest) is a 10-day event that considers themes of migration, identity, and displacement with an emphasis on works in translation.
(Full Schedule Here)


LitFest: Viet Thanh Nguyen