The Kenyon Review has announced that Viet Thanh Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American author, will receive its 2025 Literary Achievement Award.

The honor recognizes distinguished literary careers and celebrates writers who have profoundly shaped American literature. The award ceremony will take place on November 7 in New York.

Born in 1971 in Buon Ma Thuot, Viet Thanh Nguyen arrived in the U.S. in 1975 with his family and later settled in California. He is currently a professor at the University of Southern California and a prolific author, speaker, and literary figure.

He is also the co-founder of The Diasporic Vietnamese Artists Network, a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board, and a juror for several prestigious literary awards in the U.S.

Nguyen’s debut novel, The Sympathizer (2015), won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016 and was recently adapted into a limited series by HBO.

His other works include The Refugees (2017), The Committed (2021), and The Displaced - an anthology he edited featuring immigrant stories from authors worldwide.

His recent publications include A Man of Two Faces: A Memoir, A History, A Memorial and To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other.

He is a recipient of Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships, further cementing his influence in American letters.

The Kenyon Review Literary Achievement Award, established in 2002, celebrates writers who have shaped American literature through vision, imagination, and distinctive style. Previous recipients include Umberto Eco (2005), Margaret Atwood (2007), and Elie Wiesel (2012).

PV