Ocean Vuong with Tommy Orange

Showered with critical acclaim, Ocean Vuong’s 2016 poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds cemented his status as a young new voice. His equally beloved debut novel, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, is a stunning portrait of family, love, and the power of storytelling. Written as a letter from a son to a mother, the book asks perennial and pressing questions about race, class, masculinity, addiction, and trauma, all with the characteristic care and love that Vuong lends the page. Born in Vietnam and raised in Connecticut, Vuong is an Assistant Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at Umass-Amherst. His writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Harpers, The Nation, The New Yorker, and the American Poetry Review.

“[On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous] is one of the best novels I’ve ever read…Ocean Vuong is a master. This book a masterpiece.” — Tommy Orange

Tommy Orange’s stunning debut novel, There There, grapples with the complex and painful history of a multigenerational Native American family living in Oakland, at once celebrating their rich spiritual heritage and illuminating the profound consequences of systematic discrimination. A recent graduate from the MFA program at the Institute of American Indian Arts, Orange is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes.