Ocean Vuong is an American poet, essayist, novelist, and photographer. His debut novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, was published in 2019 and established him as a significant voice in contemporary literature. That same year, he received a MacArthur Fellowship, recognizing his creative achievements and potential. Vuong has received numerous prestigious literary awards throughout his career. He was awarded the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation in 2014, the Whiting Award in 2016, and the T. S. Eliot Prize in 2017. These honors reflect his contributions to poetry and literature.