With Los Angeles Times, Ocean Vuong Reflects on the Year Everything Changed

Martin Wolk spends time with Vuong in advance of his reading in Los Angeles on January 27. "By his own account, 2019 was a 'roller-coaster' year for poet and fiction writer Ocean Vuong," Wolk's article begins. Picking up from there: 

In June he published his debut novel, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous” to rapturous reviews, and it became an instant bestseller.

In September, Vuong received a MacArthur Foundation “genius” grant, freeing him from financial worries, at least for the next five years. Less than six weeks later, his mother, Rose, died at age 51, not long after being diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer.

Vuong said in an interview that his mother’s death was “a huge rupture,” one from which he is still healing. But he feels grateful his mother, who worked in a nail salon for 25 years, was able to see and enjoy his success as a writer.

“She ultimately lived a very good life in the last decade, and I was able to do that and help her, and not many people get to do that,” he says. “I feel very blessed that my mother got to witness the fruits of her labor.”

Continue reading at Los Angeles Times.