Ocean Vuong was born in Saigon in 1988, lived in a refugee camp in the Philippines and then got asylum in the United States with his family, eventually settling in Hartford. From this scattered childhood emerged an authentic "American voice," which will be honored this month with the Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award for his 2019 debut novel, "On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous."
SOURCE: Hartford Courant at 10:01AM on October 18, 2020