Pulitzer Prize winner visits Vietnam War literature class

A large group of Penn students and teaching assistants — about 50 people in total — applauded when the author of their latest reading assignment, “The Sympathizer,” stepped to the front of the classroom.

Viet Thanh Nguyen, who just recently won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, spoke to students in Penn professor Amy Kaplan’s class “Vietnam War in Literature and Film” on April 18. Kaplan said she was “thrilled, of course” when she learned of his win.