Pulitzer Prize–winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen joined The Nation for an intimate conversation about the power of language in challenging imperialism, colonialism, and hate; the long history of anti-Asian violence in the United States; and a new generation of Vietnamese writers. (Check out a few book recommendations by Nguyen here.) He told his personal story about coming to the US with his family as refugees when he was a young child, about being separated from his parents, and how those experiences have influenced his work.

“Part of what happens in this country is that we understand, or we think we understand immigrants, and we think, ‘of course immigrants would want to come to this country, the greatest country on Earth.’ But we don’t know what to make out of refugees,” Nguyen said.

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