White Whale Bookstore is thrilled to welcome bestselling author, award-winning poet, and MacArthur Genius 
Ocean Vuong 
back to Pittsburgh in celebration of his latest novel, 
The Emperor of Gladness
! Join us May 20th at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall for an unforgettable evening.
Tickets are required to attend this event. 
Each ticket—except discounted student tickets— will include 
a signed copy of 
The Emperor of Gladness
, to be picked up at the event. The author will not be personalizing books, or signing any books brought from home. 
Can't attend this time? You can preorder 
The Emperor of Gladness
 here
. For every confirmed preorder of this book, Penguin Press will donate $0.50 to Queer Liberation Library. Let them know you preordered 
here
.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
“
The Emperor of Gladness
 
is a poetic, dramatic and vivid story. Epic in its sweep, the novel also handles intimacy and love with delicacy and deep originality. Hai and Grazina are taken from the margins of American life by Ocean Vuong and, by dint of great sympathy and imaginative genius, placed at the very center of our world.” —Colm Tóibín, author of
 
Long Island
 
and
 
Brooklyn
“A masterwork.” —Bryan Washington, author of
 
Palaver
 
and
 
Family Meal
Ocean Vuong returns with a bighearted 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. At its heart is a brave epic about what it means to exist on the fringes of society and to reckon with the wounds that haunt our collective soul. Hallmarks of Ocean Vuong’s writing—formal innovation, syntactic dexterity, and the ability to twin 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.
OCEAN VUONG
 is the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collections 
Night Sky with Exit Wounds
 and 
Time Is a Mother
, as well as the 
New York Times
 bestselling novel 
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
. A recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the American Book Award, he used to work as a fast-food server, which inspired 
The Emperor of Gladness
. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he currently splits his time between Northampton, Massachusetts, and New York City.
Information Source: White Whale Bookstore | eventbrite

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