Vinh Nguyen
Vinh Nguyen is a writer, educator, and editor. He authored the speculative memoir The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse, which was a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, a Governor General’s Literary Award, and the Toronto Book Award. A nonfiction editor at The New Quarterly, his writing published in Brick, LitHub, The Malahat Review, and the Hamilton Review of Books. In 2022, he was a Lambda Literary Fellow for Emerging LGBTQ Voices. Nguyen’s writing has been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award and received the John C. Polanyi Prize for Literature. He lives in Toronto.
Writers & Books
Videos
Vinh Nguyen - The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse: A Memoir
Award History
2025 - Finalist
Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction
forThe Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse: A Memoir
Jury Citation
“The Migrant Rain Falls in Reverse is an arresting and lyrical memoir that deftly weaves together memory, longing, and speculative invention into a deeply human exploration of identity. Grounded in the mystery of an absent father, Vinh Nguyen takes readers on a profound journey through family, land, and loss, navigating shimmering distortions of thought and real-life struggle. Through combining imagination and narrative, this complex story embodies shadows of absence and love, offering reconstructions of life that provide both solace and revelation in the possibility of remembrance and fantasy.”—2025 Hilary Weston Prize Jury (Matthew R. Morris, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, and Niigaan Sinclair)Program History
2026 - Rising Star
Rising Stars
Selected by
Sarah Cox
Citation
“Vinh Nguyen’s writing is magical even when it’s heartbreaking, with exquisite storytelling that lingers long past the last word. His masterful ability to blend gladness with grief, keenly observe people, places and history, and bend genres by poetically incorporating elements of fiction into memoir, make him a treasure to read. At this disturbingly fraught and perilous time in the world, Nguyen’s work exploring displacement, concepts of home and family, and the personal and societal devastation wrought by war and conquest offers both a cautionary tale of profound loss and a hopeful testimony to resilience.”—2026 Rising Star Selector Sarah Cox
Works Recognized by WT