Ocean Vuong
Poet. Novelist. Quiet Revolutionary.
A Spotlight from My Asian Era
“Let us burn quietly into the lives we never were.”
— Ocean Vuong, Burnings
Who He Is
Ocean Vuong was born in 1988 in Saigon, Vietnam and immigrated to the United States as a child refugee. Raised in a working-class Vietnamese American family, he was the first in his family to learn to read. Vuong studied literature at Brooklyn College and earned his MFA from NYU, where he now teaches.
His background informs much of his work — the aftermath of war, queer identity, language as survival — all filtered through a poetic lens that has become his signature.
Why He Matters
Ocean Vuong’s work exists in the space between silence and survival, where language becomes a lifeline. Whether he’s writing poetry or prose, his voice is unmistakable: soft, devastating, precise.
His stories often explore queerness, grief, memory, and the lasting impact of war and displacement. In his hands, even history becomes intimate — a single photograph, a gunshot, a grieving son, a cigarette lit offscreen. Vuong writes like someone who knows that survival is both an act of defiance and tenderness.
He’s one of those rare writers who makes you pause, re-read, and rethink what writing can do.
Selected Honors
- Whiting Award for Poetry (2016)
- T.S. Eliot Prize for *Night Sky with Exit Wounds* (2017)
- MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship (2019)
- Longlisted for the National Book Award for *On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous* (2019)
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Featured Works
🖋 Burnings
Poetry | 2010
Blistering. Burnings is Vuong’s rawest work, poems that carry fire, survival, and the weight of identity.
Read the full review →
🖋 Night Sky with Exit Wounds
Poetry | 2016
Grief, war, love, and identity. Poems that whisper and wound.
Read the full review →
🖋 On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Novel | 2019
A letter from son to mother, this novel blends autofiction and memory with heartbreaking beauty.
Read the full review →
🖋 Time Is a Mother
Poetry
Written after his mother’s death, this collection moves through grief and queer survival with clarity and force.
Review coming soon
🖋 The Emperor of Gladness
Novel | 2025
A story about caregiving, addiction, and found family - full of grace and ache.
Read the full review →
Where to Start
New to Vuong? Start with Night Sky if you’re drawn to poetry, or On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous for a lyrical, unforgettable novel. All of his work is perfect reading for Pride Month.
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