Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong was born in Hồ Chí Minh City (also known as Saigon), Vietnam{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/books/ocean-vuong-earth-briefly-gorgeous.html |title=Eavesdropping on Ocean Vuong's New Book |first=Kevin |last=Nguyen |work=The New York Times |date=May 25, 2019 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222192105/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/25/books/ocean-vuong-earth-briefly-gorgeous.html |url-status=live}} to a multiracial mother. Two generations before Vuong was born, his grandmother was raised in the countryside of Vietnam. During this time, his grandfather, a farm boy from Michigan, was serving in the United States Navy. It was during the Vietnam War period that he fell in love with Vuong's grandmother, whom Vuong described as "an illiterate girl from the rice paddies."{{cite web |last=Armitstead |first=Claire |date=October 3, 2017 |title=War baby: the amazing story of Ocean Vuong, former refugee and prize-winning poet |issn=0261-3077 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/03/ocean-vuong-forward-prize-vietnam-war-saigon-night-sky-with-exit-wounds |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222192355/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/03/ocean-vuong-forward-prize-vietnam-war-saigon-night-sky-with-exit-wounds |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |work=The Guardian}}

His grandparents married and had three daughters, one of whom was Vuong's mother. His grandfather had gone back to visit home in the US but was unable to return when Saigon fell to communist forces. Fearing for their safety, his grandmother made the difficult decision to place his mother and her sisters in separate orphanages. With the rising dangers associated with being seen as a collaborator, she believed splitting them up would give them the best chance for survival. "It was a humanitarian crisis, and there was more chance of them surviving like that," he explains. His grandmother also worried they might be taken out of Vietnam.

As daughters of a US serviceman, they would have qualified for Operation Babylift—a program that evacuated children to the United States for adoption. If kept together, they might have also been viewed as a family unit, making them a target for dissidents seeking to leave the country. By separating them, she hoped to protect them from these risks and increase their chances of survival.

By the time the family was reunited, his mother had already reached adulthood. At 18, she had given birth to Ocean and was working in a Saigon salon, washing men's hair to make ends meet. However, her mixed-race heritage caught the attention of a policeman, who recognized that, under Vietnamese law, she was working illegally due to her background. This discovery put the family at significant risk, forcing them to flee Vietnam for safety. The family was evacuated to a refugee camp in the Philippines, where they waited as the Salvation Army processed their resettlement claim. Two-year-old Vuong and his family eventually gained asylum and migrated to the United States. They settled in Hartford, Connecticut, along with seven relatives sharing a one-bedroom apartment. His father abandoned the family one day and never returned.

Vuong was the first in his family to achieve proficiency in reading and writing, learning to read at the age of eleven. He suspected dyslexia ran in his family. At 15 years old, Vuong worked on a tobacco farm illegally and would later describe his experiences on the farm in On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.{{cite web |url=http://thenervousbreakdown.com/ovuong/2011/08/ocean-vuong-the-tnb-self-interview/ |title=Ocean Vuong: The TNB Self-Interview |author=Ocean Vuong |work=The Nervous Breakdown |date=August 1, 2011 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 6, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221206111309/http://thenervousbreakdown.com/ovuong/2011/08/ocean-vuong-the-tnb-self-interview/ |url-status=dead}} He was reunited with his maternal grandfather later in life.{{cite magazine |last=Wenger |first=Daniel |date=April 7, 2016 |title=How a Poet Named Ocean Means to Fix the English Language |url=https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-a-poet-named-ocean-means-to-fix-the-english-language |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222191637/https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/how-a-poet-named-ocean-means-to-fix-the-english-language |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |magazine=The New Yorker}}{{cite web |last=Kakutani |first=Michiko |date=May 9, 2016 |title=Review: 'Night Sky With Exit Wounds,' Verses From Ocean Vuong |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/books/review-night-sky-with-exit-wounds-verses-from-ocean-vuong.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222192521/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/10/books/review-night-sky-with-exit-wounds-verses-from-ocean-vuong.html |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |work=The New York Times}}

Vuong attended Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, Connecticut, a school known for academic excellence. "I didn't know how to make use of it," Vuong has stated, noting that his grade point average at one point was 1.7.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/06/going-home-ocean-vuong-on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous/590938/ |title=Going Home With Ocean Vuong |first=Kat |last=Chow |work=The Atlantic |url-access= subscription |date=June 4, 2019 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222192614/https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/06/going-home-ocean-vuong-on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous/590938/ |url-status=live}}

While in high school, he told fellow Glastonbury graduate Kat Chow, he "understood he had to leave Connecticut." After spending some time studying at Manchester Community College, Vuong transferred to Pace University in New York City to study marketing. His time at Pace lasted only a few weeks before he realized it "wasn't for him."

He then enrolled at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, where he studied 19th-century English literature under poet and novelist Ben Lerner, and earned his B.A. in English.{{cite web |url=https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-news/ocean-sounds-a-brooklyn-college-alumnus-reflects-on-his-life/ |title=Ocean Sounds: A Brooklyn College Alumnus Reflects on His Life |work=Brooklyn College |date=June 5, 2012 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222160933/https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-news/ocean-sounds-a-brooklyn-college-alumnus-reflects-on-his-life/ |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-news/mentoring-demands-respect-says-ben-lerner-about-his-work-with-ocean-vuong/ |title=Mentoring Demands Respect, Says Ben Lerner About His Work with Ocean Vuong |work=Brooklyn College |date=June 14, 2013 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222192715/https://www.brooklyn.edu/bc-news/mentoring-demands-respect-says-ben-lerner-about-his-work-with-ocean-vuong/ |url-status=live}} While at Brooklyn College, Vuong received an Academy of American Poets College Prize. Vuong went on to earn an M.F.A. in poetry from New York University.{{Cite web |last=Poets |first=Academy of American |title=Ocean Vuong |url=https://poets.org/poet/ocean-vuong |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=Poets.org |language=en}}

File:Ocean vuong 6873.JPG

Vuong's poems and essays have been published in various journals, including Poetry,{{cite web |url=https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ocean-vuong |title=Ocean Vuong |work=Poetry Foundation |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222192332/https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ocean-vuong |url-status=live}} The Nation,{{cite web |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/eurydice/ |title=Eurydice |work=The Nation |date=January 28, 2014 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222195506/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/eurydice/ |url-status=live}} TriQuarterly,{{cite web |url=https://www.triquarterly.org/contributors/ocean-vuong |title=Ocean Vuong |work=TriQuarterly |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222195505/https://www.triquarterly.org/contributors/ocean-vuong |url-status=live}} Guernica,{{cite web |url=https://www.guernicamag.com/ocean-vuong-i-remember-anyway/ |title=I Remember Anyway |author=Ocean Vuong |work=Guernica |date=June 14, 2013 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222195627/https://www.guernicamag.com/ocean-vuong-i-remember-anyway/ |url-status=live}} The Rumpus,{{cite web |url=https://therumpus.net/author/ocean-vuong/ |title=Ocean Vuong |work=The Rumpus |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222195521/https://therumpus.net/author/ocean-vuong/ |url-status=live}} Boston Review,{{cite magazine |url=https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/poets-sampler-ocean-vuong/ |title=Poet's Sampler: Ocean Vuong |magazine=Boston Review |date=September 8, 2014 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222195633/https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/poets-sampler-ocean-vuong/ |url-status=live |last1=King |first1=Amy |last2=Vuong |first2=Ocean }} Narrative Magazine, The New Republic, The New Yorker, and The New York Times.{{cite web |url=https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/ocean-vuong.html |title=Ocean Vuong |work=New York University |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222195638/https://as.nyu.edu/faculty/ocean-vuong.html |url-status=live}}

His first chapbook, Burnings (Sibling Rivalry Press), was a 2011 "Over The Rainbow" selection for notable books with LGBT content by the American Library Association.{{cite web |url=https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/overtherainbow/archives/342 |title=2012 Over the Rainbow List–74 LGBT Books for Adult Readers! |author=blogando |work=American Library Association |date=January 22, 2012 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222200926/https://www.glbtrt.ala.org/overtherainbow/archives/342 |url-status=live}} His second chapbook, No (YesYes Books), was released in 2013.{{cite web |url=https://www.yesyesbooks.com/product-page/no-by-ocean-vuong |title=No by Ocean Vuong |work=YesYes Books |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222201236/https://www.yesyesbooks.com/product-page/no-by-ocean-vuong |url-status=live}} His debut full-length collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, was released by Copper Canyon Press in 2016.{{cite web |url=https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/books/night-sky-with-exit-wounds-by-ocean-vuong/ |title=Night Sky with Exit Wounds |work=Copper Canyon Press |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222201519/https://www.coppercanyonpress.org/authors/ocean-vuong/ |url-status=live}} His first novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, was published by Penguin Press on June 4, 2019. While working on the novel, the biggest issue Vuong had was with grammatical tense, since there are no past participles in Vietnamese. Vuong also regarded the book as a "phantom novel" dedicated to the "phantom readership of the mother, of [his] family," who are illiterate and thus cannot read his book.{{cite web |last1=Spiegel |first1=Amy Rose |title=On being generous in your work |url=https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/2017-05-16-ocean-vuong-on-being-generous-in-your-work/ |website=The Creative Independent |access-date=7 July 2022 |archive-date=May 29, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220529005850/https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/2017-05-16-ocean-vuong-on-being-generous-in-your-work/ |url-status=dead}} Vuong's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer three months before the publication of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/6161568/ocean-vuong-time-is-a-mother-interview/ |title=Grieving His Mother's Death, Ocean Vuong Learned to Write for Himself |first=Nicole |last=Chung |magazine=Time |date=March 30, 2022 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202332/https://time.com/6161568/ocean-vuong-time-is-a-mother-interview/ |url-status=live}} After his mother died in 2019, Vuong began writing his second collection of poetry, Time Is a Mother, which has been described as a "search for life after the death of his mother."{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1090845515/poet-ocean-vuong-sifts-through-the-aftershock-of-grief-in-time-is-a-mother |title=Poet Ocean Vuong sifts through the aftershock of grief in 'Time Is a Mother' |first=Tonya |last=Mosley |work=NPR |date=April 5, 2022 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202444/https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1090845515/poet-ocean-vuong-sifts-through-the-aftershock-of-grief-in-time-is-a-mother |url-status=live}}

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous has generated controversary. The question has been asked whether some of its content is pornographic. After protest from an online group, the International School Ho Chi Minh City had taken back 19 copies of the book from students, to whom the book had been handed out.{{Cite news |last=Thu |first=Ha |date=May 7, 2014 |title=Vietnam re-evaluating Ocean Vuong novel's 'pornographic' controversies |url=https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/education/vietnam-re-evaluating-ocean-vuong-novel-s-pornographic-controversies-4743265.html |work=VN Express International}}

In August 2020, Vuong was revealed as the seventh writer to contribute to the Future Library project. The project, which compiles original works by writers each year from 2014 to 2114, will remain unread until the collected 100 works are eventually published in 2114. Discussing his contribution to the project, Vuong opined that, "So much of publishing is about seeing your name in the world, but this is the opposite, putting the future ghost of you forward. You and I will have to die in order for us to get these texts. That is a heady thing to write towards, so I will sit with it a while."{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/19/ocean-vuong-2114-book-future-library-norway |title='You'll have to die to get these texts': Ocean Vuong's next manuscript to be unveiled in 2114 |first=Sian |last=Cain |work=The Guardian |date=August 19, 2020 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202457/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/aug/19/ocean-vuong-2114-book-future-library-norway |url-status=live}}

Vuong has stated his view of fiction as a moral vehicle. Discussing On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, he said: "Fiction is strongest when it launches a moral question. When it goes out and seeks to answer. The questions that we couldn't ask in life because the costs would be too much. Fiction and narrative art give us a vicarious opportunity to see these questions play out, at no true cost to our own."{{cite web |url=https://lithub.com/ocean-vuong-on-the-moral-questions-of-fiction/ |title=Ocean Vuong on the Moral Questions of Fiction |author=Talk Easy |work=Literary Hub |date=May 23, 2023 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202433/https://lithub.com/ocean-vuong-on-the-moral-questions-of-fiction/ |url-status=live}}

He served as the 2019–2020 Artist-In-Resident at NYU's Asian/Pacific/American Institute, also working with the school's Center for Refugee Poetics and the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House.{{cite web |url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/june/award-winning-poet-ocean-vuong-to-join-nyu-s-creative-writing-pr.html |title=Award-Winning Poet Ocean Vuong to Join NYU's Creative Writing Program Faculty |work=New York University |date=June 15, 2022 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202444/https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/june/award-winning-poet-ocean-vuong-to-join-nyu-s-creative-writing-pr.html |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://apa.nyu.edu/ocean-vuong-artist-in-residence/ |title=Ocean Vuong, Artist-in-Residence |work=Asian/Pacific/American Institute – New York University |date=August 29, 2019 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202448/https://apa.nyu.edu/ocean-vuong-artist-in-residence/ |url-status=live}} In 2022, he became a tenured Professor of Creative Writing at NYU,{{cite web |url=https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/june/award-winning-poet-ocean-vuong-to-join-nyu-s-creative-writing-pr.html |title=Award-Winning Poet Ocean Vuong to Join NYU's Creative Writing Program Faculty |work=New York University |date=June 15, 2022 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229115857/https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2022/june/award-winning-poet-ocean-vuong-to-join-nyu-s-creative-writing-pr.html |url-status=live}} and has also taught in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.{{cite web |url=https://www.umass.edu/news/article/two-umass-amherst-authors-win-top-honors |title=Two Umass Amherst Authors Win Top Honors in 20th Annual Mass Book Awards |work=University of Massachusetts Amherst |date=September 15, 2020 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222144231/https://www.umass.edu/news/article/two-umass-amherst-authors-win-top-honors |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/ocean-vuong-is-still-learning |title=Ocean Vuong Is Still Learning |author=Hua Hsu |magazine=The New Yorker |date=April 10, 2022 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202651/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-new-yorker-interview/ocean-vuong-is-still-learning |url-status=live}} In 2022, Vuong was named as one of "32 Essential Asian American Writers" by BuzzFeed Books.

Vuong released a second novel titled The Emperor of Gladness on May 13, 2025.{{cite web|title= A new Ocean Vuong novel is coming next summer. |first= James |last= Folta |date= April 16, 2024 |work= Literary Hub |language= en |url= https://lithub.com/a-new-ocean-vuong-novel-is-coming-next-summer/ |access-date= November 22, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241122184028/https://lithub.com/a-new-ocean-vuong-novel-is-coming-next-summer/ |archive-date= November 22, 2024 |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine|title= Tired of Playing the Self-Loathing Poet, Ocean Vuong Is Stepping Into His Next Role |first1= Catherine |last1= Lacey |first2= Quil |last2= Lemons |first3= Moses |last3= Moreno |date= April 23, 2024 |magazine= Cultured |issn= 1741-251X |language= en |url= https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2024/04/23/ocean-vuong-poet-photography-novel-cult-100 |access-date= November 22, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241122184021/https://www.culturedmag.com/article/2024/04/23/ocean-vuong-poet-photography-novel-cult-100 |archive-date= November 22, 2024 |url-status=live}} The novel was an Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection on publication, and received largely favorable reviews, with Maureen Corrigan calling it "a truly great novel about work."https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-s1-5399596/the-emperor-of-gladness-review-ocean-vuong However, Tom Crewe in the London Review of Books lambasted it as "one of the worst ordeals of my reading life," criticizing it and Vuong's first novel for their "ridiculous, sententious" writing, "slight" plots, and "cartoon characters."

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v47/n11/tom-crewe/my-hands-in-my-face

Vuong has described himself as being raised by women. During a conversation with a customer, his mother, a manicurist, expressed a desire to go to the beach, and pronounced the word "beach" as "bitch". The customer suggested she use the word "ocean" instead of "beach". After learning the definition of the word "ocean" — the most massive classified body of water, such as the Pacific Ocean, which connects the United States and Vietnam – she renamed her son Ocean.

Three months before the novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous was published, Vuong's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she died in November 2019.{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/6161568/ocean-vuong-time-is-a-mother-interview/ |title=Grieving His Mother's Death, Ocean Vuong Learned to Write for Himself |first=Nicole |last=Chung |magazine=Time |date=March 30, 2022 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229123536/https://time.com/6161568/ocean-vuong-time-is-a-mother-interview/ |url-status=live}} Vuong wrote Time Is a Mother while in mourning. According to Vuong, the collection of poems is the search for life after this heartbreaking event.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1090845515/poet-ocean-vuong-sifts-through-the-aftershock-of-grief-in-time-is-a-mother |title=Poet Ocean Vuong sifts through the aftershock of grief in 'Time Is a Mother' |first=Tonya |last=Mosley |work=NPR |date=April 5, 2022 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231229131931/https://www.npr.org/2022/04/05/1090845515/poet-ocean-vuong-sifts-through-the-aftershock-of-grief-in-time-is-a-mother |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/ocean-vuong-embraces-life-after-loss-in-his-new-book-of-poems-time-is-a-mother-1.6413281 |title=Ocean Vuong embraces life after loss in his new book of poems, Time Is a Mother |author=CBC Radio |work=CBC.ca |date=April 8, 2022 |access-date=December 29, 2023 |archive-date=April 24, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230424014955/https://www.cbc.ca/radio/writersandcompany/ocean-vuong-embraces-life-after-loss-in-his-new-book-of-poems-time-is-a-mother-1.6413281 |url-status=live}}

In November 2021, an excerpt from On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous was featured in that year's New South Wales Higher School Certificate exams. The paper, the first of two English exams taken by year twelve students in the Australian state, required examinees to read an excerpt from the novel and answer a short question responding to it. On the exam's conclusion, Australian school students bombarded Vuong with confused inquiries via Instagram, to which the author responded in humorous fashion. In one comment, in response to the mother of a student requesting more information about the excerpt, Vuong replied by asking, “Don’t y’all have Spark Notes in Australia?” Later, relating his own story, Vuong said: “For what it’s worth, I didn’t get into ‘uni’ either out of high school. I went to a local community college where I did some of my best learning.”{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/11/what-the-hell-is-an-hsc-exam-oet-ocean-vuong-pokes-fun-at-perplexed-australian-students |title='What the hell is an HSC exam?' Poet Ocean Vuong pokes fun at perplexed Australian students |first=Janine |last=Israel |work=The Guardian |date=November 10, 2021 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202658/https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/11/what-the-hell-is-an-hsc-exam-oet-ocean-vuong-pokes-fun-at-perplexed-australian-students |url-status=live}}

Vuong is gay{{cite news|title= An Hour with Ocean |first= Robbie |last= Short |date= November 3, 2017 |newspaper= Yale Daily News |language= en |url= https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/11/03/an-hour-with-ocean/ |access-date= November 26, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241126200220/https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2017/11/03/an-hour-with-ocean/ |archive-date= November 26, 2024 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|title= Author Ocean Vuong on how 'queerness' made him a better person |first= Alyssa |last= Newcomb |date= June 2, 2021 |work= Today |language= en |url= https://www.today.com/tmrw/earth-we-re-briefly-gorgeous-author-ocean-vuong-how-queerness-t219397 |access-date= January 14, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20240114140510/https://www.today.com/tmrw/earth-we-re-briefly-gorgeous-author-ocean-vuong-how-queerness-t219397 |archive-date= January 14, 2024 |url-status=live}}{{cite news|title= Ocean Vuong: 'As a child I would ask: What's napalm?' |first= Emma |last= Brocke |date= June 9, 2019 |work= The Guardian |issn= 1756-3224 |language= en |url= https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/09/ocean-vuong-on-earth-we-are-briefly-gorgeous-interview |access-date= December 3, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241203071336/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jun/09/ocean-vuong-on-earth-we-are-briefly-gorgeous-interview |archive-date= December 3, 2024 |url-status=live}} and is a practicing Zen Buddhist.{{cite web |url=https://tricycle.org/article/scares-writer-zen-buddhist-ocean-vuong/ |title=What Scares Writer and Zen Buddhist Ocean Vuong |first=Raisa |last=Tolchinsky |work=Tricycle |date=August 16, 2017 |access-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-date=December 22, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231222202657/https://tricycle.org/article/scares-writer-zen-buddhist-ocean-vuong/ |url-status=live}} He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his partner, Peter Bienkowski, and his half-brother whom he took in after their mother died.{{cite web |url=https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2128480/ts-eliot-prize-goes-vietnam-born-us-poet-debut-collection-night-sky |title=TS Eliot prize goes to Vietnam-born US poet for debut collection Night Sky With Exit Wounds |author=The Guardian |work=South China Morning Post |date=January 17, 2018 |access-date=December 21, 2023 |archive-date=December 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231221175856/https://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2128480/ts-eliot-prize-goes-vietnam-born-us-poet-debut-collection-night-sky |url-status=live}}{{cite magazine |first=Rigoberto |last=González |title=Be Bold: A Profile of Ocean Vuong |magazine=Poets & Writers |issue=July/August 2019 |issn=0891-6136 |url=https://www.pw.org/content/be_bold_a_profile_of_ocean_vuong?article_page=2 |access-date=December 23, 2023 |archive-date=December 23, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231223102051/https://www.pw.org/content/be_bold_a_profile_of_ocean_vuong?article_page=2 |url-status=live}} During the Gaza war, he has been a supporter of the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including publishers and literary festivals.{{cite web|title= Over 1,000 authors join Israel boycott for 'dispossession' of Palestinians |date= October 29, 2024 |work= Yedioth Ahronoth |language= en |url= https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/hjkvdwre1x |access-date= November 4, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241104125146/https://www.ynetnews.com/culture/article/hjkvdwre1x |archive-date= November 4, 2024 |url-status=live}}{{cite web|title= Hundreds of Authors Pledge to Boycott Israeli Cultural Institutions |first= Dan |last= Sheehan |date= October 28, 2024 |work= Literary Hub |language= en |url= https://lithub.com/hundreds-of-authors-pledge-to-boycott-israeli-cultural-institutions/ |access-date= November 4, 2024 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20241104035028/https://lithub.com/hundreds-of-authors-pledge-to-boycott-israeli-cultural-institutions/ |archive-date= November 4, 2024 |url-status=live}}

{{main|List of awards and nominations received by Ocean Vuong}}As of 2024, Vuong has won, received a nomination, or was considered for literature awards as well as career awards for fellowship and grant, residences, and listicles. His book The Emperor of Gladness was added to the Oprah's Book Club in May of 2025.{{Cite web |url=https://www.oprah.com/book/oprahs-book-club-the-emperor-of-gladness-by-ocean-vuong |title=Book Club Pick #114 - The Emperor of Gladness By Ocean Vuong |date=May 2025 |website=Oprah's Book Club |access-date=2025-05-14}}

• LGBT culture in New York City
• List of LGBT people from New York City
• List of Vietnamese Americans

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Ocean Vuong}}

{{Wikiquote|Ocean Vuong}}

• {{Official website|https://www.oceanvuong.com}}
• {{Britannica|2212032|Ocean Vuong}}

{{American Book Awards (2020–2039)}}

{{Authority control|state=expanded}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vuong, Ocean}}

Category:1988 births

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