Viet Thanh Nguyen Wins MacArthur Genius Grant

Chalk up another honor for Viet Thanh Nguyen.

PBS reports that the Pulitzer Prize winning author is one of 24 people to be awarded a 2017 MacArthur Genius Grant. He will receive a cash prize of $625,000 so he can be freed to continue his writing.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Nguyen, 46, is working on a sequel to The Sympathizer, his first novel released in 2016 which won his critical acclaim and the prestigious Pulitzer Prize.

Nguyen was just four when he came with his family to the United States. His family opened a grocery store in San Jose. His work is inspired by his life as a refugee-as someone who lives between two worlds.

“I feel a deep sense of humility; because I know there are many other writers in the contemporary moment who deserve this award, and many writers in the past who should have gotten it who didn’t,” Nguyen said to the Times about his award. “And I think about those writers who came at a time when the award didn’t exist whose work made my own possible. It makes me appreciate this even more.”

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