Duke Asian Pacific Studies Institute (APSI) and Duke University Libraries’ Global Studies Department are launching their first-ever Summer Book Club in 2026, a two‑event series featuring the work of Pulitzer Prize–winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen. Led by two Duke professors, this inaugural program invites readers to engage in discussion of Nguyen’s writing and its exploration of war, memory, migration, and the politics of representation.
Viet Thanh Nguyen is a Pulitzer Prize–winning novelist, critic, and professor at the University of Southern California. Born in Vietnam and raised in the United States as a refugee, Nguyen is the author of the acclaimed novel The Sympathizer (2015), which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, along with numerous works of nonfiction and criticism that explore the legacies of war and the experiences of refugees and diasporic communities.
The series begins with a discussion of The Sympathizer, led by Marguerite Nguyen, Associate Professor of English at Duke, on Tuesday, July 14, 2026, @ 9:00a.m. The conversation continues with Nguyen’s recent book To Save and to Destroy, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, in a session led by Eileen Cheng‑yin Chow, Associate Professor of the Practice in Chinese and Japanese Cultural Studies at Duke, on Monday, August 17, 2026, @ 9:00a.m.
Both discussions will take place online and welcome participants from Duke and beyond. Readers are encouraged to attend one or both sessions and take part in lively, thoughtful discussions of Nguyen’s influential work.
Register for the sessions:
The Sympathizer — https://duke.libcal.com/event/16956585
To Save and to Destroy — https://duke.libcal.com/event/16956935