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Viet Thanh Nguyen

@vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social
12K followers 778 following 1.1K posts

I'm a writer. Books include The Sympathizer, The Committed, A Man of Two Faces, The Refugees, and To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other.

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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 14/10/2026
The question I ask myself when I wonder what I should speak out about is: What is the unspeakable? If it’s unspeakable, it’s typically a sign that that issue has significance that requires our attention. From my conversation with the great Raoul Peck on Al Jazeera.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 13/10/2026
I had the honor and pleasure of editing this year’s BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES. If you’re in New York, please come to the celebration of this volume, which has twenty great short stories and a list of a hundred more fine stories published last year. (1/3)
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 09/10/2026
Will Hegseth deliver the coup de grâce? www.latimes.com/world-nation...
latimes.com
Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to the conservative TV outlet Real America’s Voice News on Wednesday, said the execution of Hasan will take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
A note about radical solidarity during these times – and why it is so important. More thoughts can be found in my latest interview with Chapter House Journal. Hope you'll check it out. Full interview link: chjournal.com/chapter-hous... Full interview link is also in bio.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Israel says killing 20 civilians to get one Hamas fighter is legal. If one American civilian was killed to get one American soldier, Americans would call that a war crime. "Proportionality" is racist, colonial, imperialist self-justifying garbage, because it never works in reverse.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Interesting fact about John Steinbeck (probably the author I've read the most, given I grew up in California): despite his reputation as a populist and leftist, his last writing was a series of dispatches from the war in Viet Nam. He was pro-America and pro-war.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
So he can (supposedly) joke about letting Iran nuke LA or San Diego but people can’t joke about Charlie Kirk?
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I recently was asked about “a new world order,” to which I invited us to consider not only who a “new world order” is benefiting, but also push for a reordered world order, one that includes things like a cessation of genocide in Gaza. (1/2)
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
I talked about what I consider complex joy — and why I believe that is more useful for our times than simple joy — with Chapter House Journal. Full interview link: chjournal.com/chapter-hous... Full interview link also in bio.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Some thoughts about what happens when those who have been othered gain power. Do those who have been othered repeat the same power mechanisms that were impressed on them? (1/2)
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Excited to participate in La Manifestival 2026 in Rome, October 9–11, 2026 My panel is USA: Democracy at the Brink Sunday, October 11 · 4:00 PM – 5:15 PM Teatro Palladium Project 2025 codifies a subversive shift toward a fundamentalist ethnostate. How did this happen? (1/6)
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
I'm very pleased to be coming to The British Library in London on October 1 as part of their first American Writers’ Week. I’ll be in conversation with Nikesh Shukla. Information and tickets at events.bl.uk/events/ameri... More details and registration link are also in bio.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
One reason why the National Book Awards didn’t have a lot of nonwhite nominees in the mid century was because immigration law kept out most nonwhite people until 1965, and Black people were under segregation. What we see now is at least partly the result of greater competition.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Bret Stephens in the New York Times has decried the diversity of the National Book Award nominees. Coincidentally, I wrote about exactly this issue in 2024 for the Washington Post. Even so, it’s essentially a rebuttal, wapo.st/47jdRtb%EF%B...
wapo.st
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A powerful and confident empire wouldn’t to annihilate anyone. An insecure and decaying empire does.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I’ve been thinking about the contradictions within the United States. One example of our many contradictions: the notion of freedom and how people self-censor, which I get into a bit here. It was a pleasure joining Ken Nguyen @thevietnamesepodcast for a wide ranging discussion.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
I’m tired of reading about autofiction written by white writers. Carlos Bulosan’s AMERICA IS IN THE HEART from 1946 was autofiction before it was trendy. Except that it was about Filipino men, blurring the novel and collective autobiography.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is evil. The kind of cruelty required to deport children en masse is beyond me, but not beyond Stephen Miller and this administration.
theguardian.com
Trump ally Stephen Miller leads sweeping push to accelerate removal of migrant children
Exclusive: key White House loyalist orchestrating multi-agency effort condemned by critics as cruel and racist
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Did you know there is a French graphic novel adaptation of The Sympathizer? What a thrill for me to visit Angers and talk with Antoine Ozanam about his adaptation of my novel into Le Sympathisant! Monday, September 28, 2026 6:30 – 8:30 pm Musée des Beaux-Arts · Angers (1/4)
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This is one of my favorite festivals. A great gathering of U.S. authors in Vincennes, on the edge of Paris. I'm speaking on seven (!) panels. More details in the link in bio.
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Reposted by Viet Thanh Nguyen
Jin X. Goh | 吴晋勋 @jinxungoh.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Just met one of my favorite authors and ultimate academic hero @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social!!! I am dying right now! I literally just assigned his op-ed in my class and so much of my work now is based on his writing. Truly a special day 🤩🫪🥹😭🤩
Viet Thanh Nguyen with Donna Seaman at Printer Row Lit fest
Viet Thanh Nguyen signing his book with words: “May you find joy in your otherness”
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
ÁCCENTED returns for Season 7 with a critical topic: deportation defense in Southeast Asian communities. Don’t miss it! Registration link in bio.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
The Burning Towers Foreshadowed a Burning World – Viet Thanh Nguyen on the 25 Years After 9/11 zeteo.com/p/the-burnin...
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Michelle @thegreenstudy.com · 11/09/2026
Finished reading @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social's A Man of Two Faces. I don't think I've ever read a memoir that has churned up so much fear as a writer - the understanding that those things we avoid are the things we should be writing. Amazing work. #writingcommunity groveatlantic.com/book/a-man-o...
groveatlantic.com
A Man of Two Faces | Grove Atlantic
The highly original, blistering, and unconventional memoir by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer, which has now sold over one million copies worldwide...
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
What is the New World Order? That's the topic of the panel I'll be speaking on at the Jaipur Literature Festival's Los Angeles event, with Caroline Elkins and H.E. Nina Hachigian, in conversation with Seema Sirohi. Tuesday September 15 at 7PM. Link in bio for more details.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
First time ever for me to speak at the Printers Row Lit Fest in Chicago. I'll be speaking on Sept. 13 @ 11AM with Donna Seaman, while the festival happens the entire weekend. This FREE event takes place on the streets of South Dearborn, from Ida B Wells to Polk St, Chicago, IL. Come Rain or Shine!
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
East LA! I'm coming back to the East Los Book Festival, where I'll be on a panel with Adriana Martine and Mike Madrid, moderated by Obed Silva. (1/2)
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I'm glad to be speaking at the Lviv Book Forum, if only virtually, on the topic of "Who Gets to Tell the Story?" I'll be in conversation with Bogdana Romantsova. (1/2)
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The most disturbing thing about Milo Yiannopoulos' deportation is this from Homan: "A lot of people tipped ICE off,” Homan replied. “There are a lot of people who’s calling ICE." In other words, a lot of Americans are rats, finks, squealers, and Nazis. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Trump ‘border czar’ denies Milo Yiannopoulos was deported quickly to spare him from ICE detention
Tom Homan denies British far-right commentator, who was deported one day after arrest, got preferential treatment
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
totally bogus that my children (13 and 6) do not want to see Coyote vs. Acme with me
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
So people in the US will literally get information only meant for the US? That is very definitely another sign of authoritarianism and fascism.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Too funny! You reap what you sow, and all that
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Blame immigrants, minorities, women, queer people, trans people, Muslims, Arabs, poor people, and communism. But when you're super duper in trouble--blame Canada.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Just vile. From Trump and Miller down to ICE and this judge.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
The conditions are horrific. They amount to torture. And these people have legal protections that are ignored by ICE and the US Embassy.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Jason Arday didn’t harm anyone. The guy who led the social panic and hysteria aimed at Arday wants to bring back eugenics and eliminate Black people from elite institutions (and that’s likely just the beginning). So I’m not shedding any tears about his suspension.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I just saw Young Frankenstein again at Vidiots in LA. It still holds up. Even my thirteen year old laughed at a lot of parts!
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
So the US has laid seige to Cuba and cut off its power while the US is also neglecting Gary, IN, a city with an 80% Black population. Meanwhile, plenty of bombs and missiles for killing Venezuelans, Iranians, Lebanese, and Palestinians. And Trump's clique gets richer and richer.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Sometime in the future it will be revealed that everyone in the Pentagon and administration knew the war couldn’t be won and kept on lying to the public and maybe to themselves and to Trump, who admittedly needs no help in lying. Exactly as was the case with the American war in Viet Nam.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
ICE is doing this to people. Jose Mejia Hernandez can't be the only one.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Reality for Palestinians is like how Hollywood's science fiction dystopias depict an alien invasion. We're not supposed to feel sympathy for alien invaders. Why are we supposed to feel sympathy for Israel? Or the United States, for that matter, which does exactly the same thing to many countries.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
The fiancée from Russia overstayed her green card visa and was thrown into a detention center, where she was treated inhumanely, "like a piece of meat," in conditions of "neglect, filth and people in despair." Nobody should be treated this way, not even people who voted for Trump.
nytimes.com
Years of Trump Support Came Undone in 15 Minutes in an Airport. (Gift Article)
The case represents a new front in President Trump’s mass deportation drive: arrests at airports of people who have active immigration cases and no criminal history.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
it makes sense these guys are twinsies
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
This says it all about the double standards to which Jason Arday and other Black academics have been subjected to under the guise of anti-DEI, anti-wokism, anti-affirmative action. From Dr. Stacey Patton’s Facebook.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
I hope this person found the handsome stranger reading The Sympathizer, a man of impeccable taste. thanks to my friend Crystal Parikh for seeing this in New York City's Missed Connections missed.you/nyc
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
See you in London!
thebookseller.com
British Library announces American Writers’ Week with Joyce Carol Oates and Viet Thanh Nguyen
The British Library has announced American Writers’ Week, a five-day programme of events marking 250 years since the founding of the United States.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
War is peace
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Everybody's talking about The Odyssey, but I just saw Spider-Man: Brand New Day, and I thought it was a superior superhero movie. Found myself getting a little emotional in places! Credit to the screenwriters Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers for not making the movie feel manufactured, even if it was.
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Viet Thanh Nguyen @vietthanhnguyen.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
All the people who believe in a white Jesus freaking out over a Black queen!
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