Kien Nguyen

Kien Nguyen (born in Nhatrang, South Vietnam, 1967) is an author. He was born to a wealthy Vietnamese mother and an American soldier. His once wealthy family, thrust into poverty at the dawn of a new political regime, lived among neighbors who treated them as pariahs, unwelcome remnants of the colonialist past. Kien, a child of mixed race, was among the most unwanted.

He left Vietnam in 1985 through the United Nations "Orderly Departure Program." After spending time at a refugee camp in the Philippines, Nguyen arrived in the United States. He lives in New York City.

He has written three books: The Unwanted, a memoir, The Tapestries and Le Colonial.