Viet Thanh NguyenEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

For generations, the Statue of Liberty has stood as a beacon representing the promise of America as a land of freedom and opportunity for immigrants from all over the world. But in 2025, as immigrant communities are being vilified and terrorized across the US, as people of color are being kidnapped off the street by armed, masked agents of the state, as immigrants are kidnapped and disappeared to prisons in foreign countries like El Salvador, as billions of taxpayer dollars are allocated to erect migrant concentration camps and a giant wall on the US-Mexico border, it should be horrifyingly clear that the promised America embodied in the Statue of Liberty is not the America we live in today. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen about the reality immigrant families face in the US today and about the critical relationship between the rise of authoritarianism at home and the violent expansion of American imperialism abroad. Guest: Viet Thanh Nguyen is a professor of English, American studies and ethnicity, and comparative literature at the University of Southern California. His novel The Sympathizer won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. His latest feature piece for The Nation Magazine is titled “Greater America has been exporting disunion for decades” Additional resources: Viet Thanh Nguyen, The Nation, “ Greater America has been exporting disunion for decades ” Michael Fox, The Real News Network, “ Families of the detained see echoes of dictatorial past in El Salvador's gang crackdown ” Maximillian Alvarez, The Real News Network, “ A dangerous myth: The US has never been 'a nation of immigrants' ” Credits: Studio Production: David Hebden Post-Production: Cameron Granadino Help us continue producing radically independent news and in-depth analysis by following us and becoming a monthly sustainer. Sign up for our newsletter Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Donate to support this podcast

What does it mean to be the “other”? Viet Thanh Nguyen, a South Vietnamese-born American writer links his personal story to US actions abroad and at home, discussing ICE raids, protests, and the war on Gaza, showing how these issues are deeply connected. In this episode: Viet Thanh Nguyen ( @viet.thanh.nguyen.writer) , Author, “To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other” Episode credits: This episode was produced by Chloe K. Li, Sonia Bhagat, and Haleema Shah, with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Mariana Navarrete, Sarí el-Khalili, Kisaa Zehra, Remas Alhawari, Marcos Bartolomé, and guest host Natasha Del Toro. It was edited by Noor Wazwaz. Joe Plourde mixed this episode. The Take production team is Marcos Bartolomé, Sonia Bhagat, Sarí el-Khalili, Tamara Khandaker, Phillip Lanos, Chloe K. Li, Ashish Malhotra, Haleema Shah, Khaled Soltan, Amy Walters, and Noor Wazwaz. Our editorial interns are Remas Alhawari, Mariana Navarrete, and Kisaa Zehra. Our guest host is Kevin Hirten. Our engagement producers are Adam Abou-Gad and Vienna Maglio. Aya Elmileik is lead of audience engagement. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Joe Plourde mixed this episode. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X , Facebook , Threads and YouTube

It’s been 50 years since the fall of Saigon, but the impact of the Vietnam War still reverberates across generations and continents. On the GZERO World podcast, Ian Bremmer speaks with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and historian Mai Elliott —two writers whose lives were shaped by the conflict. Nguyen, author of the bestselling book and TV series "The Sympathizer," recounts growing up in a tight-knit refugee community in California, where “melancholy, rage, anger, bitterness, sadness—the whole gamut of emotions” defined the postwar experience. Elliott, who interviewed insurgents during the war, came to see its human cost up close, saying, “I didn’t care who won the war by the end of it—I just wanted it to stop.” But the episode is not just about the past. It’s also about Vietnam’s present—and future. The country has become one of Asia’s fastest-growing economies and most strategically important players, carefully navigating a relationship with China and the United States. “If Vietnam gets too close to China, it could lose its country,” Elliott explains. “Too close to the US, and it could lose its regime,” Nguyen adds that while tensions remain between the Vietnamese state and its diaspora, Vietnam’s diplomatic pragmatism is rooted in a thousand-year history of resisting Chinese domination while embracing growth opportunities. As Washington and Beijing compete for influence in Southeast Asia, Vietnam is charting its path—one shaped by memory, resilience, and the long shadows of war. Host: Ian Bremmer Guests: Viet Thanh Nguyen and Mai Elliott Subscribe to the GZERO World with Ian Bremmer Podcast on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or your preferred podcast platform, to receive new episodes as soon as they're published. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s Write-minded’s 300th episode! And we’re celebrating by bringing listeners the esteemed Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose novel, The Sympathizer, was adapted for HBO Max and started streaming in April. In this interview, Nguyen addresses didacticism as a craft choice, the mindset of writers who, like him, find themselves between two languages, and how his desire to capture the Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War (and more) made him a writer. Nguyen’s generosity and enthusiasm for his work and his craft shine through in every answer, and Write-minded is grateful to cap this milestone with such a beloved author and guest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s Write-minded’s 300th episode! And we’re celebrating by bringing listeners the esteemed Viet Thanh Nguyen, whose novel, The Sympathizer, was adapted for HBO Max and started streaming in April. In this interview, Nguyen addresses didacticism as a craft choice, the mindset of writers who, like him, find themselves between two languages, and how his desire to capture the Vietnamese perspective on the Vietnam War (and more) made him a writer. Nguyen’s generosity and enthusiasm for his work and his craft shine through in every answer, and Write-minded is grateful to cap this milestone with such a beloved author and guest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .

In 2015, Viet Thanh Nguyen was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his debut novel, The Sympathizer. Now, nearly a decade later, the book has been adapted into an HBO miniseries of the same name. This week, Michael sits down with Viet for a conversation about his latest book, A Man with Two Faces, which expands beyond the familiar beats of memoir, and features the author’s trademark interest in the broader political and colonial implications of the personal. Reading list:The Sympathizer, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2014The Committed, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2021A Man of Two Faces, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2023 Dune, Frank Herbert, 1965Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth,1968 Quarterly Essay: Highway to Hell, Joëlle Gergis, 2024 You can find these books and all the others we mentioned at your favourite independent book store. Socials: Stay in touch with Read This on Instagram and Twitter Guest: Viet Thanh Nguyen

On March 19, 2024 , acclaimed author Viet Thanh Nguyen discussed his memoir, A Man of Two Faces , and reflected on the TV adaptation of his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Sympathizer . With former Newshour host Razia Iqbal. Viet Thanh Nguyen ’s novel The Sympathizer (Corsair, 2016) is a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (coming to HBO as a TV series directed by Park Chan-wook). His other books include Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War (a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award), and The Committed . Nguyen is a University Professor, the Aerol Arnold Chair of English, and a Professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California. Music : Quantum Jazz — "Orbiting A Distant Planet" — Provided by Jamendo.

In this conversation with RevDem editor Ferenc Laczó, Viet Thanh Nguyen – author of the new book A Man of Two Faces. A Memoir, A History, A Memorial – reflects on the ambiguities and contradictions of growing up Vietnamese-American in the aftermath of what is called the Vietnam War in the US; explains what motivated him to seek a new balance between remembering and forgetting in his new book; shares his ethical considerations regarding the revelation of secrets; shows why self-representation is not enough; and discusses how his dialectic Marxism wavers between Groucho and Karl. Viet Thanh Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Thanh Việt) is a Vietnamese-American professor and novelist. He is the Aerol Arnold Chair of English and Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He is the author of the scholarly monograph Nothing Ever Dies: Vietnam and the Memory of War and the novel The Sympathizer , among several other books. A Man of Two Faces. A Memoir, A History, A Memorial has been published by Grove Press. In collaboration with Lucie Hunter.

On this week’s episode of Stay Tuned, “Asian American Life and Death,” Preet answers listener questions about prosecutorial conduct in the Derek Chauvin murder trial and the allegations against Congressman Matt Gaetz. Then, Preet interviews Viet Thanh Nguyen and Janelle Wong. Nguyen is the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist of The Sympathizer and its new sequel, The Committed. He is also the Aerol Arnold Chair of English and an English Professor at the University of Southern California. Wong is a political scientist and a Professor of American and Asian American studies at the University of Maryland. She’s also a Senior Researcher at AAPI Data, where she collects demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders. After the March 16th killing of six Asian American women in Atlanta, Nguyen and Wong penned a joint op-ed for the Washington Post that outlined how bipartisan rhetoric about geopolitical events has historically led to spikes in violence against Asians and Asian Americans. In the Stay Tuned bonus, Nguyen and Wong discuss the importance of Asian American representation in popular culture, including in the cult 2004 comedy Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle. To listen, try the CAFE Insider membership free for two weeks and get access to the full archive of exclusive content, including the CAFE Insider podcast co-hosted by Preet and Anne Milgram. For show notes and a transcript of the episode, head to: cafe.com/stay-tuned/asian-american-life-and-death-with-viet-thanh-nguyen-and-janelle-wong/ Listen to the entirety of Doing Justice, Preet’s new free six-part podcast based on his bestselling book of the same name. You can hear Preet’s stories from his time as U.S. Attorney on Apple Podcasts (apple.co/doingjustice), Spotify (spoti.fi/3p9Xwja) or wherever you get your podcasts. To listen to Stay Tuned bonus content, become a member of CAFE Insider at: CAFE.com/Insider Sign up to receive the CAFE Brief, a weekly newsletter featuring analysis by Elie Honig, a weekly roundup of politically charged legal news, and historical lookbacks that help inform our current political challenges: CAFE.com/Brief. As always, tweet your questions to @PreetBharara with hashtag #askpreet, email us at staytuned@cafe.com, or call 669-247-7338 to leave a voicemail. Stay Tuned with Preet is produced by CAFE Studios. Executive Producer: Tamara Sepper; Senior Editorial Producer: Adam Waller; Technical Director: David Tatasciore; Audio Producer: Matthew Billy; Editorial Producers: David Kurlander, Noa Azulai, Sam Ozer-Staton. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello! We’re very excited to have Pulitzer Prize winner and Macarthur Genius Grant recipient Viet Thanh Nguyen on the show. There was a lot to discuss and a lengthy conversation that I (Jay) found absolutely fascinating about the role of academia, especially during a time of national protests. A lot of history in this one as well — if you didn’t know about AAPA and Third World Liberation Front, there’s a short primer at the beginning of the episode. 1:05 - A conversation about the promise of the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF), a student movement that started at San Francisco State and UC Berkeley in the late sixties and promised an inclusive, solidarity-based activism rooted in anti-imperialism and anti-capitalism. The TWLF fight resulted ethnic studies programs across California and Viet talks about being an ethnic studies student at Cal in the early 90s and gives an assessment of what has happened over the past forty or so years since the establishment of the TWLF and the AAPA (Asian American Political Alliance). 8:00 - Discussion about Viet’s conversation with Pankaj Mishra , which we highly recommend you read. 19:00 - Have Ethnic Studies programs been effective in producing radical thinkers and progressive students? We talk about the early demands of the TWLF, which included a separate school within a school with its own faculty search committee and admissions office. 50:00 - a lengthy discussion about where the focal point of the Asian American identity should lie. Should we talk about immigration and the immigrant experience as much as we do? Or should we think more about where we came from and the effects of American imperialism across Asia? Can Filipinos, Koreans, Cambodians, Vietnamese, and others find common fighting ground in a renewal of “third world” logic? Or are those efforts nullified by the presence of an upwardly mobile, assimilation-driven class of Asian-Americans? Thanks for listening! Jay, Tammy, and Andy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit goodbye.substack.com/subscribe

The impact of entrepreneurship on the America dream is too often taken for granted. Consider Pulitzer Prize Winning Author Viet Thanh Nguyen, who escaped Vietnam as a refugee with most of his family in the 70s, almost immediately torn from his mother's arms when they hit the ground in America. Then a few years later, reunited with his brother and parents who started their own successful, yet back breaking grocery store business in San Jose, California. An observer, Viet learned how to be and not to be, absorbing the tenacity and fierceness of his entrepreneurial parents. His journey from boyhood to manhood in a country studded at every point with racism and hypocrisy manifests beautifully in his Pulitzer Prize winning novel "The Sympathizer." Host JinJa Birkenbeuel interviews Viet on this special episode. Viet's story will surprise you, as he unpacks and deconstructs American-style racism through his own cultural lens. Follow Viet on Insta and Twitter @viet_t_nguyen . Purchase his books at http://www.bookshop.org. "The Sympathizer" is available here https://bookshop.org/books/the-sympathizer-a-novel-pulitzer-prize-for-fiction/9780802124944 and his collaboration with his son Ellison "Chicken Of The Sea" https://bookshop.org/books/chicken-of-the-sea/9781944211738 . #BlackLivesMatter #TheSympathizer #Pulitzer #Refugee #Vietnam Follow our show on http://www.instagram.com/honestfieldguide or at http://www.twitter.com/thehonestfield. We would love your dollars to keep going! We can take a donation to support our podcast here and we will shout you our when you do it on an upcoming podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-honest-field-guide/support. Text The Honest Field Guide at ‪(312) 445-0903‬ Send us a voice message and we will record it on an upcoming episode: https://anchor.fm/the-honest-field-guide/message. The podcast is recorded and produced by Birk Creative: Designing visual identities and multichannel strategies to help brands establish, grow, scale, exit and keep up with the pace of change. Visit birkcreative.com. Music found on this episode is available on Apple here https://music.apple.com/us/artist/utah-carol/137984081 and provided courtesy Utah Carol (ASCAP). All content ©Birkdesign Inc. This podcast represents the personal views of JinJa Birkenbeuel, CEO of Birk Creative and its employees.

Viet Thanh Nguyen was born in Vietnam and raised in America, and currently lives in Los Angeles. His novel The Sympathizer won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and other awards. He is also the author of the nonfiction books Nothing Ever Dies and Race and Resistance and the short story collection The Refugees. Apart from writing, Nguyen is also the Aerol Arnold Professor of English and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. He has been the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim and MacArthur Foundations, and is also a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times and the editor of The Displaced: Refugee Writers on Refugee Lives. www.creativeprocess.info