Join us and our host, Nell, for the next installment of our LGBTQIA Book Club: Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous.

About On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous:

On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is a letter from a son to a mother who cannot read. Written when the speaker, Little Dog, is in his late twenties, the letter unearths a family's history that began before he was born — a history whose epicenter is rooted in Vietnam — and serves as a doorway into parts of his life his mother has never known, all of it leading to an unforgettable revelation. At once a witness to the fraught yet undeniable love between a single mother and her son, it is also a brutally honest exploration of race, class, and masculinity. Asking questions central to our American moment, immersed as we are in addiction, violence, and trauma, but undergirded by compassion and tenderness, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous is as much about the power of telling one's own story as it is about the obliterating silence of not being heard.

With stunning urgency and grace, Ocean Vuong writes of people caught between disparate worlds, and asks how we heal and rescue one another without forsaking who we are. The question of how to survive, and how to make of it a kind of joy, powers the most important debut novel of many years.

This book club will be hosted via ZOOM, a video conferencing app for computers and phones. Open to all -- please just rsvp with a ticket for access to the ZOOM meeting. You can also purchase a copy of the book here which will give you:

• a copy of Ocean Vuong's On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

• access to the guided ZOOM discussion with our host, Nell, from Lost City Books

*** We ask that participants be aware that you will need to download the ZOOM app to join the meeting. Within ZOOM, your camera's audio will pull your video to center-screen so it is advisable to set up in a quiet area. Additionally we ask that participants be courteous and take turns speaking/remain aware of your floor time so that everyone can get the most out of the book club experience.