The University of Toledo’s Dr. Joey S. Kim will be in conversation with New York Times best-selling author and photographer Ocean Vuong at the Toledo Museum of Art (TMA) on Saturday, Oct. 12. The event is being held in conjunction with the debut of Vuong’s photography exhibition at TMA.
Vuong and Kim, an assistant professor in the Department of English Language and Literature, will discuss themes of Asian and Asian American embodiment, visuality, labor, leisure and loss, as well as Vuong’s relationship with writing and photography.
Dr. Joey S. Kim, an assistant professor in UToledo’s Department of English Language and Literature, and Ocean Vuong, a New York Times best-selling author and photographer.
Immediately following the talk, Vuong will be available for a book signing.
The free, public event is a collaboration between TMA and UToledo’s Department of English Language and Literature. It runs from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Great Gallery at TMA, 2445 Monroe St. To register to attend in person or online via Zoom, go to the events page on TMA’s website.
Vuong is a Vietnamese American professor, photographer, poet and novelist. He has drawn critical and popular acclaim for his work, including his debut novel, “On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous,” written as a letter from an immigrant son to his mother who cannot read or write. He also is the author of the poetry collections, “Time is a Mother,” shortlisted for the Griffin Prize, and “Night Sky with Exit Wounds,” winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award and the Thom Gunn Award.
Vuong divides his time between Northampton, Mass., and New York City, where he is a professor in the creative writing program at New York University.
His photography is on display in “From Asia to the World,” an ongoing exhibit at TMA.
Kim is a poet, author and scholar specializing in global Anglophone literature with a focus on 19th century poetics, global Asian cultures, Asian American literature and critical race and ethnic studies. Her most recent book, “Romanticism and the Poetics of Orientation,” highlights the racial and ethnic formation of the poetic subject in terms of Orientalism.
Her debut poetry collection, “Body Facts,” weaves together Korean history, family stories and reflections on human and geographic bodies, while also exploring her experiences as the daughter of South Korean immigrants. It was a finalist for the Ohioana Book Award in 2022.
