Ocean Vuong "The Emperor of Gladness"
From Beyond the Page: The Best of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference by Sun Valley Writers’ Conference
November 11, 2025 · 28 min
About this episode
Ocean Vuong discusses his life, literary achievements, and new novel in front of a live audience.
In this episode – recorded live at the 2025 Writers Conference – I have an intimate conversation, in front of 1500 people, with the novelist and poet Ocean Vuong. When he was two years old, in 1990, Ocean immigrated with his family from Vietnam. They settled in East Hartford, CT, seven relatives sharing a one-bedroom apartment. His mother worked at a nail salon. When Ocean learned to read at 11, he became the first literate member of his family. Then he became the first to attend college, eventually earning an MFA in writing from NYU. In 2016, he published his debut poetry collection, “Night Sky with Exit Wounds,” which drew immediate attention and acclaim. In 2019, his first autobiographical novel, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” written in the form of letters from a Vietnamese American son to his mother, became a bestseller and led to his being awarded a MacArthur Genius grant. By every outward sign, he had seemingly achieved the American Dream as a writer. Then his mother, who’d never been able to read his books, died of cancer. Another celebrated poetry collection, “Time is a Mother,” followed. And now we have Ocean’s magnificent second novel, “The Emperor of Gladness.”…
People in this episode
Guest: Ocean Vuong
Topics covered
- immigration
- literature
- poetry
- American Dream
- family
- cancer
Keywords
- Ocean Vuong
- Vietnam
- poetry
- American Dream
- literature
- cancer
- Writers Conference
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Sun Valley Writers’ Conference
Books & works: Night Sky with Exit Wounds, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, Time is a Mother, The Emperor of Gladness
Places: Vietnam, East Hartford, CT
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