-You are known as a poet.
This is your first novel, and just debuted at number 6
on "The New York Times" fiction list.
Very exciting. [ Cheers and applause ]
-That's what they say.
-That all sounds very glamorous now,
and yet the book was not written
in the most glamorous circumstances.
You had roommates at the time you wrote this book.
Tell everybody where you wrote this book.
-I had noisy roommates.
They had kids, and I struggled.
You know, I was an adjunct at NYU,
and I would go home, working on this book.
And I looked at the corner of my room,
and I said, "Where can I --
the furthest place I can go from these folks?"
They were kind folks, but they were so noisy.
And it was the closet. -Oh, wow.
-The closet was the furthest place away.
And I know, for a gay writer, the irony is not lost on me.
[ Laughter, cheers, applause ]
The irony is not lost. -Yeah.
-But I thought, "I'm gonna go in there.
I'm gonna reclaim that place."
[ Laughter and applause ]
And, you know, you know, it was beautiful.
You go in there, and what was once a prison for me,
I turned it into a portal to write this book.
-That's fantastic. -And I went in there
with a little lamp and my laptop, and it was perfect.
-And certainly, the outcome is perfect.
This is such a beautiful book.
It is fiction, but the main character,
born in Vietnam like you, grew up in Hartford.
How much of it was taken from your own life?
And as you're writing it, when do you choose to make
a fictional choice versus something
that's more autobiographical?
-Yeah, that was a purposeful choice.
I wanted to start with truth and end with art.
That was always my goal.
I could have put these folks in Mars and turned it sci-fi.
I could have put them in ancient Vietnam or medieval Europe.
But I wanted to situate them in Hartford, Connecticut,
as Asian-American characters, as a way of saying,
"These bodies are inspiring to me.
They're worthy of literature, with a capital L,"
something that these bodies rarely got a chance to be.
And here's my chance to do it
and contribute to American letters in this way.
I wanted to do it right.
-It's really --
[ Cheers and applause ]
It's really well-executed.
The main character is named, referred to as Little Dog.
And you talk about how --
why it is that his mother calls him that,
which I found fascinating.
And there's truth to that, as well, yes?
-Yes. In our village in Vietnam,
the tradition is to name the child,
the weakest, smallest child,
after the most despicable things.
And sometimes we call them Little Dog, Pig Face,
as a way to deter evil spirits who come hunting for children.
And, you know, they hear, "Oh, that's a little dog.
I don't want anything to do with that."
So a name becomes a cloak, becomes a shield.
And particularly with these women who have PTSD,
who survived war, they're so powerless in America.
They have very little agency.
And their only one thing they can do with their mouth
is to rename the child Little Dog to protect him.
And it's their power.
-And then, your mother named you Ocean.
That was not what she originally had in mind.
What was she originally thinking to name you?
-Oh, Lord. Okay.
So my mother had me when she was 19.
This is '88.
And at that time, there's a person named Jackie Chan...
[ Laughter ]
...who was Asia's, you know, proudest export in the world.
-Sure. -And he was everywhere.
And she liked -- it was either Michael Jackson or Jackie Chan.
And she thought she really wanted to go with Jackie.
And luckily, she stayed off, you know.
And she came to Ocean. -Yeah.
-But that was her impulse, was to go for Jackie Chan.
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
-My school bullies would've had a field day, so I'm so --
-Yeah, and I think it would be very hard to sell a book
by Michael Jackson Vuong right now.
[ Laughter and applause ]
So, I think we dodged a bullet there, as well.
[ Cheers and applause ]
You make a really interesting observation
about how, in the English language,
words of destruction are used to define success,
particularly from the male perspective.
Can you speak about that for a minute?
-In this culture, we celebrate boys
through the lexicon of violence. "You're killing it."
"You're making a killing." "Smash them."
"Blow them up."
"You went into that game guns blazing."
And I think it's worth it to ask the question,
what happens to our men and boys
when the only way they can valuate themselves
is through the lexicon of death and destruction?
And I think when they see themselves only worthwhile
when they are capable of destroying things,
it's inevitable that we arrive at a masculinity that is toxic.
You, uh -- [ Cheers and applause ]
-Your -- This book is written from the perspective of a writer
who is writing to his mother, knowing that she will not
be able to read it because she cannot read English.
Your mother -- That is true of your mother, as well?
-Yeah. -But yet she has come out.
She has come to your readings.
She must be very proud of you. -Very proud.
-And what's it like when she comes to your readings?
-Oh, my Lord. The first time she went,
you know, I read, and it was lovely.
Folks, you know, as they do, they stand up and they clap.
And I walk back to check on her, and she's crying.
You know, she's sobbing. And I thought,
I said, "Mom, what's wrong?
You didn't hear anything, you know?
I didn't do anything wrong, did I?"
You know, you being the son, you make sure,
"Did I do anything bad?" She said, "No, no, no.
I never thought I would live to see all these old white people
clapping for my son."
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I'm very happy. I'm very happy for you.
-I never saw it that way, you know?
But she taught me how to rethink
what success was for her is to see the effect.
As a writer, I'm always interested in the language,
and I'm obsessed with language.
But she helped me think that it matters what you do
in the world, how your words affects the world, what it does.
She was looking at that, and she really taught me
how to look at where my language ends up.
-Well, she sounds like a very impressive woman.
Do you think she'll be watching this?
-Yes. -Okay, that's good.
Do you to want to say anything to her that she'd understand?
-Can I? -Yeah, please.
-Yeah, yeah.
[ Speaking Vietnamese ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
-What a delight having you.
Congratulations on the book. -Thank you.
-Just an honor.