The Boat

Nam Le (born 1978) is a Vietnamese-born Australian writer who arrived in Australia as a boat refugee infant and later transitioned from law to writing after attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop. His debut short story collection The Boat (2008) garnered international acclaim, winning awards including the Dylan Thomas Prize, Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, PEN/Malamud Award, and Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award, while his 2024 poetry collection 36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem won the 2025 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Book of the Year. Literary Hub, International Literature Festival Berlin