and the Pulitzer Prize for fiction goes to....

[ColumbusReads]

....The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Has anyone read this book yet? So much written about this book lately. Awards just announced about an hour ago so I'm thinking I still have a chance with my local library.
Congrats to Viet Thanh Nguyen, Hamilton (theatre), Henry Threadgill (music) and all the other winners!

Full list of winners here:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles...

[krystal]

I met Mr. Nguyen and he's amazing! I started reading his book last week and then heard he was at a book signing literally down the street from me so I rushed over there after dinner.

[ColumbusReads]

krystal wrote: "I met Mr. Nguyen and he's amazing! I started reading his book last week and then heard he was at a book signing literally down the street from me so I rushed over there after dinner."

Krystal, can't wait to read this book I've heard so much about even prior to this big win. My library has the book but it's currently checked out. Glad you had a chance to meet him!

[Beverly]

Congrats to all of the winners!
I need to look more closely at the Journalism winners and finalist.
This was brought on my watching a BookTV program (actually by accident) that highlighted the Pulitzer Prize winners that which focused on Civil Rights and social issues.

http://www.c-span.org/video/?406904-1...

I have read The Sympathizer and really enjoyed - actually it was an audio read for me. While I didn't get a chance to read it until early this year - it was a top read for me.

[Shannon]

krystal wrote: "I met Mr. Nguyen and he's amazing!"

I agree. I heard him speak at the National Book Festival last year and I remember thinking - I really like him. He talked a lot about being a minority and "he gets it." I had not heard of him before the festival and afterwards I discovered he'd written Race and Resistance: Literature and Politics in Asian America and it all became clear. I added his book, the Pulitzer Prize winner, to my to-read list at that time, but I'll go ahead and read it this year.

[Virginie (chouettblog)]

Columbus wrote: "....The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen. Has anyone read this book yet? So much written about this book lately. Awards just announced about an hour ago so I'm think..."

Just read the blurb and it sounds absolutely fascinating. Definitely one to add to the list.

[Ming]

I read it and I think it's a great book, one of my top reads of 2015. The story was compelling and the writing gorgeous. And there's sharp wit and keen social analysis -- Nguyen tears up US policy and exposes the racism on so many fronts.

This recognition is completely deserved and helps us prepare for May -- Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

[ColumbusReads]

Ming wrote: "I read it and I think it's a great book, one of my top reads of 2015. The story was compelling and the writing gorgeous. And there's sharp wit and keen social analysis -- Nguyen tears up US policy ..."

Awesome, Ming...can't wait to read it. Library just notified me it's in transit to me from another branch. I'll have to read it quick because after this award there will be no renewing it.

[Ming]

Here's an excerpt from his public Facebook post and from his website today:

".... I just want to say to all of you who are reading this what I've tried to say to the press. Of course it's wonderful for me to get the Pulitzer Prize. But within minutes of getting it, I knew that I owed tremendous thanks to everyone who has gone before me in the great, ongoing struggle for social justice, for peace, for genuine equality, for representation for all at every level of every society. I think of the enormous debts I owe to everyone who fought for civil rights, for radical power, for economic equity, and how all these issues are inseparable from justice in the literary world. No minority writer, no writer of color, can claim that he or she accomplished anything purely on their own merit. We all owe so much to the collective struggles and activists that preceded us, that laid the foundations for our individual achievement, to everyone lucky enough to be remembered and so many who have been forgotten. Great love to Asian American Studies, to Ethnic Studies, to UC Berkeley, my alma mater that made me into the person that I am, to all who fight the good fight and who will never, ever believe that they are only individuals. All your messages to me registering the pride you feel in my accomplishment as a friend, as a fellow scholar or writer, as an Asian American/ist, as a Vietnamese or Vietnamese American--all of this affirms to me that we who wish to be are part of a movement, of movements, for love, peace, justice, and not least of all great literature."

And a link to a recent Tavis Smiley interview:

http://www.pbs.org/video/2365712671/

[Rebecca]

I'm definatley interested in reading this one.

[ColumbusReads]

Thanks for sharing that, Ming. What humility. Well, I think this speaks for itself:

Winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction

Winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for
Excellence in Fiction

Winner of the 2015 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize

Named a Best Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Seattle Times, Daily Beast, Kansas City Star, Library Journal, Kirkus Reviews, Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Guardian, National Post, MPR News, Amazon, Slate, Flavorwire, Entropy, Quartz, and Globe and Mail

The author on NPR's All Things Considered:
http://www.npr.org/2015/04/11/3987285...

[Ming]

Nguyen: “The literary industry and the entire social and cultural system of the United States work to tempt writers of color into writing for white people,” says Nguyen. “‘If I had written the book for a white audience, I would have sold it for a lot more money and many more publishers would have been bidding for it.”

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2016...