Viet Thanh Nguyen is a Vietnamese-American author and professor known for his contributions to literature and cultural studies. He was born in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1971 and immigrated to the United States after the Vietnam War. Nguyen's work often explores themes of identity, displacement, and the complexities of the Vietnamese-American experience. He gained widespread recognition for his novel, The Sympathizer, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2016. In addition to fiction, Nguyen has written essays and critiques on topics such as immigration, war, and race, making him a prominent voice in contemporary discussions about these issues.