The Committed: Viet Thanh Nguyen on Betrayal and Belonging

Viet Thanh Nguyen burst onto the literary scene with The Sympathizer, an "intelligent, relentlessly paced and savagely funny" (Wall Street Journal) debut novel that won 2016's Pulitzer Prize in fiction. The world has been waiting ever since for the next chapter in the life of Nguyen's unforgettable antihero, a half-French, half-Vietnamese double agent in the Vietnam War. The wait is over: Nguyen is back with The Committed. We catch up with our narrator in Paris, where he falls in with left-wing intelligentsia while still reeling from his torturous post-war "reeducation." Nguyen has truly outdone himself; Booker Prize winner Marlon James calls The Committed "a sequel that goes toe to toe with the original then surpasses it. A masterwork."

If you saw our July 2020 star-studded virtual event, Coming Together When Things Fall Apart, you caught a glimpse of Nguyen's insight, wit, and grace in articulating the truths we need right now -- whether about war, politics, or the complexities of human emotion. This live conversation is part of Bay Area Book Festival #UNBOUND in partnership with the legendary City Lights Books, a bastion of activism and cutting-edge literature.