Author Talk : Viet Thanh Nguyen & Antoine Ozanam in Conversation

Hilary Hodge, the Director of the Angers Literary Festival, recently founded the association Grand West Lit Events to bring free literary programming to the 40,000 English speakers across Western France. The first event will be held in partnership with the English-language Library in Angers at the Musée des Beaux Arts on Monday, September 28, 2026, from 6:30-8:30 pm and will feature Pulitzer Prize-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen and French graphic novelist Antoine Ozanam in conversation with Barbara Diggs about the newly released graphic novel Le Sympathisant, adapted from Nguyen’s acclaimed novel The Sympathizer.

They will discuss the creative process of adapting a literary novel into a graphic work; how memory, identity, and politics take on new dimensions through visual storytelling; what is gained and what is inevitably omitted in the art of adaptation; and why the novel’s exploration of the Vietnam War and its legacy continues to be so resonant today.

The conversation will be followed by a reception and book signing. The event is free and will be in English. Space is limited so we recommend registering as soon as possible. You can register here. If you’d like to buy a book in advance, you can do so when you register. That will help our bookseller order the right number of books.