12 Facts About Ocean Vuong

Ocean Vuong's grandmother grew up in the Vietnamese countryside, and his grandfather was a white American Navy soldier, originally from Michigan.

Ocean Vuong's grandparents met during the Vietnam War, married, and had three children, including Vuong's mother.

Ocean Vuong's grandfather had gone back to visit home in the US but was unable to return when Saigon fell to communist forces.

Ocean Vuong's grandmother separated his mother and aunts in orphanages, concerned for their survival.

Ocean Vuong was reunited with his paternal grandfather later in life.

At 15 years old, Ocean Vuong worked on a tobacco farm illegally and would later describe his experiences on the farm in On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.

Ocean Vuong attended Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, Connecticut, a school known for academic excellence.

Ocean Vuong's first chapbook, Burnings, was a 2011 "Over The Rainbow" selection for notable books on non-heterosexuality by the American Library Association.

Ocean Vuong 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.

Ocean Vuong's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer three months before the publication of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.

Ocean Vuong is a tenured Professor of Creative Writing at NYU.

Ocean Vuong is openly gay, and is a practicing Zen Buddhist.