Pulitzer Prize winning author and MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant” Fellowship recipient Viet Thanh Nguyen will address graduates, transfer students, and their supporters during 60th Annual West Valley College Commencement rites May 21 at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga. 
Nguyen’s debut novel, The Sympathizer, earned him the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction from the American Library Association,
among many other honors. A tragicomic spy novel, The Sympathizer explores identity, loyalty, and the lingering toll of the Vietnam War.
“We look forward to welcoming Viet Thanh Nguyen to West Valley College, where his personal and professional story of resilience and pursuit of excellence against early hardships will resonate with many listeners,” WVC President Jennifer Taylor-Mendoza said. “His creative and scholarly body of work—including a network and blog promoting the cultural and artistic contributions of Vietnamese in the diaspora—brings a fresh, thought-provoking perspective to the nation’s literary landscape.”
Nguyen immigrated with his family from Vietnam at age 4, eventually settling in San Jose, where his parents opened one of the city's first Vietnamese grocery stores. In an economically depressed area at the time, the store’s downtown site made it a challenging environment. He commemorated the period in a short story, “The War Years,” and in the PBS series Asian Americans.
A University of Southern California professor, Nguyen serves as the Aerol Arnold Chair of English, and is professor of English, American Studies and Ethnicity, and Comparative Literature. He was Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University from 2023 to 2024. In 2024, HBO turned The Sympathizer into a critically acclaimed TV series.
He attended St. Patrick School and Bellarmine College Preparatory in San Jose. Nguyen earned bachelor’s degrees in English and ethnic studies and a doctorate in English from University of California, Berkeley. Learn more about Nguyen at his website.
West Valley’s Commencement celebrates students receiving degrees, certificates and transferring. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the formal program begins at 6:30 p.m.
For additional details, visit the WVC Commencement website.