Ocean Vuong is a poet and fiction writer. Born in Vietnam, Vuong came to America with his family, as refugees, when he was two years old. His work focuses on the confluence of what is sociopolitical and what is embodied and felt, exploring questions of loss, survival, and difference. His first poetry book, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, published in 2016, was an unprecedented success; he followed it up three years later with his first novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. He was awarded a 2019 MacArthur Genius Grant for his work.
An alumnus of the MFA writing program at New York University, Vuong currently teaches writing at the University of Massachusetts – Amherst.