In this episode of Take Four Books James Crawford is joined by the multi-award winning  Vietnamese-American poet and author, Ocean Vuong. Together with the writer and editor Heather Parry, they discuss Ocean’s latest novel - ‘The Emperor of Gladness’ - and three key influences behind its creation.

Set in the fictional town of East Gladness Connecticut in the early years of the 21st century, the ‘Emperor of Gladness’ is centred on nineteen-year-old Hai, and the unlikely bond he forms with with Grazina, an elderly widow succumbing to dementia. This vivid, poetic epic explore loss, hope, class and the power of human connection in the post-industrial opioid infused margins of the American Dream.

Ocean’s literary influences include, 'The Brothers Karamazov'by Fyodor Dostoevsky, 'The Town and the City' by Jack Kerouac, and 'Class Fictions' by Pamela Fox.

Producer: Elizabeth Ann Duffy
Editor: Gillian Wheelan

This was a BBC Audio Scotland production, made in Glasgow.