| Xochitl Gonzalez | |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Notable Works: | Olga Dies Dreaming |
Xochitl Gonzalez (;[1] [2] born 1977) is an American writer, screenwriter, and producer. In 2022, she published her debut novel Olga Dies Dreaming which became a New York Times Best Seller on January 30, 2022.[3]
In 2021, she began writing the newsletter "Brooklyn, Everywhere" for The Atlantic.[4] In 2023, she joined The Atlantic as a staff writer and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work there.[5]
Gonzalez was born in New York City to a second-generation Puerto Rican mother and Mexican-American father and raised by her grandparents[6] in the area between Bensonhurst and Borough Park.[7] Her parents were activists in the Socialist Workers Party, where her mother was a union organizer who ran for office in the Socialist Workers Party.
Gonzalez attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn and earned a scholarship to Brown University.[8] At Brown she intended to study creative writing but ultimately majored in art history.[9] Reflecting on her time at the university, Gonzalez wrote, "Brown was only four hours by car, a lifetime by way of cultural journey. I had dreamt for years of escaping the concrete of Brooklyn for reasons I couldn't really ever put my finger on."[10] Gonzalez graduated from Brown with a Bachelor of Arts in 1999.
Gonzalez was inspired to become a professional writer after the death of her grandmother in 2017, with the sale of her grandmother's home helping to fund her writing efforts.[11]
Gonzalez worked as an entrepreneur and consultant for a number of years before earning her MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2021.[12] In June 2022, Gonzalez was elected a trustee of Brown University.[13]
Gonzalez was named a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary for her work writing the newsletter Brooklyn, Everywhere.
See main article: Olga Dies Dreaming. In 2022, Gonzalez published Olga Dies Dreaming, her debut novel. The novel was in part inspired by her past career as a wedding planner for the ultra-rich in New York City following the 2008 recession. The book was received positively in reviews by Ron Charles for The Washington Post and Shannon Melero for Jezebel.[14] [15] Kirkus Reviews called the book "atmospheric, intelligent, and well informed: an impressive debut."[16] Gonzalez is currently writing and co-executive producing[17] alongside filmmaker Alfonso Gómez-Rejón, a pilot for a drama based on the novel produced by Hulu and starring Aubrey Plaza and Ramon Rodriguez.[18] [19]
In 2024, her follow-up novel Anita de Monte Laughs Last was published. The novel largely received positive reviews,[20] with NPR writing that "Gonzalez's second novel brilliantly surpasses the promise of her popular debut Olga Dies Dreaming".[21] The novel follows college student Raquel Toro as she discovers the art of Anita de Monte, a character based on the Cuban artist Ana Mendieta.[22] Gonzalez claimed that she visited a location supposedly haunted by Mendieta, and was visited by a spirit of the artist, who posthumously encouraged her story to be told.