Age, Biography, and Wiki
Ocean Vuong was born on October 14, 1988, which makes him 36 years old as of October 2024. He is a Vietnamese-American writer, poet, and novelist, best known for his novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous and his poetry collection Night Sky with Exit Wounds. Vuong's work often explores themes of identity, family, and the immigrant experience. His biography is featured on his Wikipedia page, detailing his early life, literary career, and significant publications.
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| Date of Birth | 14 October 1988 |
| Age | 36 Years |
| Birth Place | Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam |
| Horoscope | Libra |
| Country | Vietnam |
Height, Weight & Measurements
There is no publicly available information on Ocean Vuong's height, weight, or other physical measurements.
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Dating & Relationship Status
Vuong's personal life, including his dating and relationship status, is not extensively documented in public sources. He generally keeps his personal relationships private.
His grandparents married and had three daughters, one of whom was Vuong's mother. His grandfather had gone back to visit home in the US but was unable to return when Saigon fell to communist forces. Fearing for their safety, his grandmother made the difficult decision to place his mother and her sisters in separate orphanages. With the rising dangers associated with being seen as a collaborator, she believed splitting them up would give them the best chance for survival. "It was a humanitarian crisis, and there was more chance of them surviving like that," he explains. His grandmother also worried they might be taken out of Vietnam.
By the time the family was reunited, his mother had already reached adulthood. At 18, she had given birth to Ocean and was working in a Saigon salon, washing men's hair to make ends meet. However, her mixed-race heritage caught the attention of a policeman, who recognized that, under Vietnamese law, she was working illegally due to her background. This discovery put the family at significant risk, forcing them to flee Vietnam for safety. The family was evacuated to a refugee camp in the Philippines, where they waited as the Salvation Army processed their resettlement claim. Two-year-old Vuong and his family eventually gained asylum and migrated to the United States. They settled in Hartford, Connecticut, along with seven relatives sharing a one-bedroom apartment. His father abandoned the family one day and never returned.
His first chapbook, Burnings (Sibling Rivalry Press), was a 2011 "Over The Rainbow" selection for notable books with LGBT content by the American Library Association. His second chapbook, No (YesYes Books), was released in 2013. His debut full-length collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, was released by Copper Canyon Press in 2016. His first novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, was published by Penguin Press on June 4, 2019. While working on the novel, the biggest issue Vuong had was with grammatical tense, since there are no past participles in Vietnamese. Vuong also regarded the book as a "phantom novel" dedicated to the "phantom readership of the mother, of [his] family," who are illiterate and thus cannot read his book. Vuong's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer three months before the publication of On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. After his mother died in 2019, Vuong began writing his second collection of poetry, Time Is a Mother, which has been described as a "search for life after the death of his mother."
Vuong has described himself as being raised by women. During a conversation with a customer, his mother, a manicurist, expressed a desire to go to the beach, and pronounced the word "beach" as "bitch". The customer suggested she use the word "ocean" instead of "beach". After learning the definition of the word "ocean" — the most massive classified body of water, such as the Pacific Ocean, which connects the United States and Vietnam – she renamed her son Ocean.
Three months before the novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous was published, Vuong's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she died in November 2019. Vuong wrote Time Is a Mother while in mourning. According to Vuong, the collection of poems is the search for life after this heartbreaking event.
Vuong is gay and is a practicing Zen Buddhist. He lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, with his partner, Peter Bienkowski, and his half-brother whom he took in after their mother died. During the Gaza war, he has been a supporter of the boycott of Israeli cultural institutions, including publishers and literary festivals.
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Net Worth and Salary
Ocean Vuong's net worth is not publicly disclosed. However, his literary successes and the popularity of his works suggest a significant income from book sales, speaking engagements, and teaching positions. His earnings also likely include royalties from his publications and any adaptations or translations of his work.
Career, Business, and Investments
Vuong's career in literature is marked by critical acclaim. His novel On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous received widespread recognition, including being a finalist for the 2019 National Book Award. He is also known for his poetry, which explores themes of identity, family, and history. In addition to writing, Vuong has been involved in teaching and has held positions at educational institutions. There is no specific information available on his business investments.
As of 2024, Vuong has won, received a nomination, or was considered for literature awards as well as career awards for fellowship and grant, residences, and listicles. His book The Emperor of Gladness was added to the Oprah's Book Club in May of 2025.
Social Network
Ocean Vuong is active on social media platforms, including Instagram, where he shares updates about his life, writing, and interactions with fans. His Instagram account often features personal anecdotes, nature scenes, and occasional plugs for his work or other authors he admires. He sometimes engages in Q&A sessions and has been involved in discussions about literary techniques, such as metaphor, which once sparked a controversy in the literary community.
In November 2021, an excerpt from On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous was featured in that year's New South Wales Higher School Certificate exams. The paper, the first of two English exams taken by year twelve students in the Australian state, required examinees to read an excerpt from the novel and answer a short question responding to it. On the exam's conclusion, Australian school students bombarded Vuong with confused inquiries via Instagram, to which the author responded in humorous fashion.
Education
Vuong attended Brooklyn College and later earned an MFA from New York University. His educational background has played a significant role in shaping his writing career.
Overall, Ocean Vuong's net worth and career success are reflections of his impact on contemporary literature and his ability to connect with readers through his personal and poignant works.
Vuong attended Glastonbury High School in Glastonbury, Connecticut, a school known for academic excellence. "I didn't know how to make use of it," Vuong has stated, noting that his grade point average at one point was 1.7.
While in high school, he told fellow Glastonbury graduate Kat Chow, he "understood he had to leave Connecticut." After spending some time studying at Manchester Community College, Vuong transferred to Pace University in New York City to study marketing. His time at Pace lasted only a few weeks before he realized it "wasn't for him."
He then enrolled at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, where he studied 19th-century English literature under poet and novelist Ben Lerner, and earned his B.A. in English. While at Brooklyn College, Vuong received an Academy of American Poets College Prize. Vuong went on to earn an M.F.A. in poetry from New York University.
He served as the 2019–2020 Artist-In-Resident at NYU's Asian/Pacific/American Institute, also working with the school's Center for Refugee Poetics and the Lillian Vernon Creative Writers House. In 2022, he became a tenured Professor of Creative Writing at NYU, and has also taught in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. In 2022, Vuong was named as one of "32 Essential Asian American Writers" by BuzzFeed Books.