In this episode—recorded live at the 2025 Sun Valley Writers’ Conference—we have an intimate conversation, in front of 1500 people, with the novelist and poet Ocean Vuong. When he was two years old, in 1990, Vuong immigrated with his family from Vietnam. They settled in East Hartford, CT, seven relatives sharing a one-bedroom apartment. His mother worked at a nail salon. When Ocean learned to read at 11, he became the first literate member of his family. Then he became the first to attend college, eventually earning an MFA in writing from NYU.

In 2016, he published his debut poetry collection, “Night Sky with Exit Wounds,” which drew immediate attention and acclaim. In 2019, his first autobiographical novel, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” written in the form of letters from a Vietnamese American son to his mother, became a bestseller and led to his being awarded a MacArthur Genius grant. By every outward sign, he had seemingly achieved the American Dream as a writer. Then his mother, who’d never been able to read his books, died of cancer. Another celebrated poetry collection, “Time is a Mother,” followed. And now we have Ocean’s magnificent second novel, “The Emperor of Gladness.”

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Bienvenido a Más allá de la página: Lo mejor de la Conferencia de Escritores de Sun Valley. Durante los últimos 30 años, la SVWC se ha convertido en el referente de los festivales literarios estadounidenses, reuniendo a las estrellas más brillantes de la escritura contemporánea para que ofrezcan su visión del mundo a través de una lente literaria. Todos los meses, Beyond the Page recopila las mejores charlas de la SVWC, ofreciéndole un asiento en primera fila para el tipo de conocimiento, inspiración, risas y significado por el que somos conocidos.

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