<p>Ocean Vuong's dazzling follow up to his debut On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, Charlotte McConaghy's urgent Wild Dark Shore and David Malouf reflects on a life of writing.</p><p>The Emperor of Gladness is the latest novel from the Vietnam born, American-based writer <a href="https://www.oceanvuong.com/">Ocean Vuong</a> who made his name with his 2019 novel <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/on-earth-were-briefly-gorgeous-9781529110685">On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous</a>. His new novel, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/the-emperor-of-gladness-9781787335417">The Emperor of Gladness</a>, takes you to a forgotten, rundown town in Connecticut called East Gladness which is a place of overgrown lawns and trampled weeds, of potholes and roadkill. Ocean shares why he thinks his latest book is self-indulgent (and that's ok), how he came to writing from business school and why his mother never knew that he dropped out of college to study literature.</p><p>A small family lives on a remote island, the father a caretaker for the world's seeds. Then in the rising seas, a woman is washed up to shore. Charlotte McConaghy's <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/books/wild-dark-shore-9781761620003">Wild Dark Shore</a> is a mystery, a story of love, and a warning.</p><p>Now at 91, <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/authors/david-malouf">David Malouf</a> tells Claire Nichols about the place of fiction in his life and what it means to reissue three collections of poetry: <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/an-open-book-2">An Open Book</a><a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/an-open-book">,</a> <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/earth-hour-2">Earth Hour</a> and <a href="https://www.uqp.com.au/books/typewriter-music-2">Typewriter Music</a>.</p>