On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family’s history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one’s own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.
Ocean Vuong (CRF 2016) is presenting his latest novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous in NYC with two launch events.
Tuesday June 4th, 2019 / 7:30 – 8:30 PM Ocean Vuong in Conversation with Alexander Chee (CRF 2011) at Books Are Magic
Wednesday June 5th, 2019 / 7:00 – 8:00 PM Ocean Vuong in Conversation with Jacqueline Woodson at Strand Bookstore – Rare Book Room / For tickets (with signed book) click here.
Alternatively, Ocean Vuong is touring many other locations in the United States this summer to present his novel. Here is his tour schedule:
Sunday June 2nd, 2019 / South Hadley, MA — Odyssey Bookshop
Thursday June 6th, 2019 / Washington DC — Politics & Prose Bookstore
Friday June 7th, 2019 / Raleigh, NC — Quail Ridge Books
Monday June 10th, 2019 / Nashville, TN — Parnassus Books
Tuesday June 11th, 2019 / Houston, TX — Brazos Bookstore
Wednesday June 12th, 2019 / Chicago, IL — The Seminary Co-op Bookstore
Thursday June 13th, 2019 / Ann Arbor, MI — Literati Bookstore
Friday June 14th, 2019 / Minneapolis, MN — Moon Palace Books
Monday June 17th, 2019 / Santa Cruz, CA — Bookshop Santa Cruz
Tuesday June 18th, 2019 / San Francisco, CA — Green Apple Books
Wednesday June 19th, 2019 / Los Angeles, CA — Skylight Books
Thursday June 20th, 2019 / Seattle, WA — Seattle Public Library in partnership with The Elliott Bay Book Company
Sunday June 23rd, 2019 / Boston, MA — Harvard Bookstore
Monday July 22nd, 2019 / Brookline, MA — Brookline Booksmith
Tuesday July 23rd, 2019 / Portland, ME — Print: A Bookstore
Saturday July 27th, 2019 / Woodstock, VT — Bookstock Festival
Sunday July 28th, 2019 / Manchester Center, VT — Northshire Books
Saturday August 3rd, 2019 / Washington, DC — Asian American Literature Festival
Monday August 5th, 2019 / Washington, DC — Solid State Books
Saturday August 31st, 2019 / Decatur, GA — Decatur Book Festival