The inimitable Vuong will join us in SF for a reading of his work and a conversation with another author, TBD, followed by audience Q+A. Tickets include a signed copy of The Emperor of Gladness ($43) Entry-only student tickets are available while supplies last ($11.50) Doors 6:30pm, Event Start 7:00pm Ocean Vuong returns with a big-hearted novel about chosen family, unexpected friendship, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive. One late summer evening in the post-industrial town of East Gladness, Connecticut, nineteen-year-old Hai stands on the edge of a bridge in pelting rain, ready to jump, when he hears someone shout across the river. The voice belongs to Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia, who convinces him to take another path. Bereft and out of options, he quickly becomes her caretaker. Over the course of the year, the unlikely pair develops a life-altering bond, one built on empathy, spiritual reckoning, and heartbreak, with the power to transform Hai’s relationship to himself, his family, and a community on the brink.
Following the cycles of history, memory, and time, The Emperor of Gladness shows the profound ways in which love, labor, and loneliness form the bedrock of American life. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing—formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to pair grit with grace through tenderness—are on full display in this story of loss, hope, and how far we would go to possess one of life’s most fleeting mercies: a second chance.
About Litquake Litquake seeks to foster interest in literature, perpetuate a sense of literary community, and provide a vibrant forum for Bay Area writing as a complement to the city's music, film, and cultural festivals. 2025 Dates: Oct. 9-25. www.litquake.org
Litquake is grateful for the support of the following funders who help make our programming possible. Institutional Giving: Alta: Journal of Alta California, Amazon Literary Partnership, Bernard Osher Foundation, California Arts Council, California Humanities, Craig Newmark Philanthropies, Center for the Art of Translation, Grants for the Arts, Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Programme, HarperOne, Hawthornden Foundation, Joseph and Vera Long Foundation, Margaret and William R. Hearst III Foundation, Mary A. Crocker Trust, Miner Anderson Family Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Rock Foundation, Norway House, Sam Mazza Foundation, San Francisco Grants for the Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation; Individual Giving: Jared Bhatti, Lisa Brown and Daniel Handler, Frances Dinkelspiel and Gary Wayne, Karyn DiGiorgio and Steve Sattler, Scott James and Gerald Cain, Nion McEvoy and Leslie Berriman, Greg Sarris, and Ellen Ullman Media Sponsors: San Francisco Chronicle, Publishers Weekly, 7x7, KALW, KEXP, KQED, SF Arts Monthly, Bay Area Reporter, Johnny Funcheap.
