Tanya Mosley

Lakeshore Drive?

Lakeshore Drive?

Lakeshore Drive?

This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And today, a conversation with writer and poet Ocean Vuong. His new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, is an exploration of working class life and the quiet joys and devastations of caregiving and survival. It's set in the fictional post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, and follows a 19-year-old Vietnamese American named Hai.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And today, a conversation with writer and poet Ocean Vuong. His new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, is an exploration of working class life and the quiet joys and devastations of caregiving and survival. It's set in the fictional post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, and follows a 19-year-old Vietnamese American named Hai.

This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. And today, a conversation with writer and poet Ocean Vuong. His new novel, The Emperor of Gladness, is an exploration of working class life and the quiet joys and devastations of caregiving and survival. It's set in the fictional post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, and follows a 19-year-old Vietnamese American named Hai.

who contemplates taking his own life before meeting an 82-year-old widow with dementia who persuades him to step back from the ledge and ultimately become her caregiver. Bong is the author of the best-selling novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and the poetry collection Time is a Mother.

who contemplates taking his own life before meeting an 82-year-old widow with dementia who persuades him to step back from the ledge and ultimately become her caregiver. Bong is the author of the best-selling novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and the poetry collection Time is a Mother.

who contemplates taking his own life before meeting an 82-year-old widow with dementia who persuades him to step back from the ledge and ultimately become her caregiver. Bong is the author of the best-selling novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, and the poetry collection Time is a Mother.

He's received a MacArthur Genius Grant and has become one of the most celebrated literary authors of his generation. The conversation you're about to hear is in two parts. First, the two of us in studio in Los Angeles.

He's received a MacArthur Genius Grant and has become one of the most celebrated literary authors of his generation. The conversation you're about to hear is in two parts. First, the two of us in studio in Los Angeles.

He's received a MacArthur Genius Grant and has become one of the most celebrated literary authors of his generation. The conversation you're about to hear is in two parts. First, the two of us in studio in Los Angeles.

And then later that night, we spoke again in front of an audience of nearly a thousand at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in partnership with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Here's our conversation. Ocean Fong, welcome back to Fresh Air. Thank you so much, Tanya.

And then later that night, we spoke again in front of an audience of nearly a thousand at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in partnership with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Here's our conversation. Ocean Fong, welcome back to Fresh Air. Thank you so much, Tanya.

And then later that night, we spoke again in front of an audience of nearly a thousand at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in partnership with the Library Foundation of Los Angeles. Here's our conversation. Ocean Fong, welcome back to Fresh Air. Thank you so much, Tanya.

You were nervous about this next book coming out, and I wonder why.

You were nervous about this next book coming out, and I wonder why.

You were nervous about this next book coming out, and I wonder why.

Let's get into your origin story, which started in Vietnam. But you arrived here at two years old, lived in Connecticut, a small town called Glastonbury. And the book is set in a fictional town, East Gladness, which I suspect is very similar to Glastonbury. Can I have you read an excerpt from the book that really describes this setting?

Let's get into your origin story, which started in Vietnam. But you arrived here at two years old, lived in Connecticut, a small town called Glastonbury. And the book is set in a fictional town, East Gladness, which I suspect is very similar to Glastonbury. Can I have you read an excerpt from the book that really describes this setting?