Books in Order
Ocean Vuong Books in Order
About Ocean Vuong
Ocean Vuong (born 1988, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam) is a Vietnamese-American poet and novelist who arrived in the United States as a refugee at age two. He learned to read in his mid-teens and has since become one of the most celebrated literary voices of his generation. His debut poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds (2016) won the T.S. Eliot Prize for Poetry. His debut novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous (2019) — written as a letter from a son to his illiterate mother — became a landmark of American literary fiction and appeared on virtually every major year-end list. He teaches at New York University.
One novel. Essential reading. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is one of the most beautiful and devastating American novels of the 21st century.
Fiction
On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous
2019
Essential readingA letter from Little Dog to his illiterate Vietnamese mother. Immigration, queerness, drug addiction, and love in rural Connecticut. A prose poem of a novel.
Get this book →Poetry
Night Sky with Exit Wounds
2016
T.S. Eliot Prize winnerHis debut poetry collection. Vietnam War, queerness, family, grief. T.S. Eliot Prize winner.
Get this book →Time Is a Mother
2022
His second collection, written after the death of his mother. New York Times bestseller.
Get this book →Frequently Asked Questions
How many books has Ocean Vuong written?
As of 2025, Ocean Vuong has published one novel (On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, 2019) and two poetry collections (Night Sky with Exit Wounds, 2016; Time Is a Mother, 2022). A second novel has been mentioned in interviews but not announced.
Is On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous fiction or memoir?
It is fiction — a novel — though it draws heavily on autobiographical material including Vuong's Vietnamese refugee family, his experiences in rural Connecticut, and his relationship with his mother. Vuong has been careful to call it a novel, not a memoir, and the narrator is not identical to the author.
Should I read the poetry before the novel?
Reading the novel first is fine and is how most readers come to Vuong. The poetry rewards readers who loved the novel's lyrical style and want more. Time Is a Mother (2022) is particularly moving and can be read independently.