Xochitl Gonzalez

Xochitl Gonzalez (, ; 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.

In 2021, she began writing the newsletter "Brooklyn, Everywhere" for The Atlantic. In 2023, she joined The Atlantic as a staff writer and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work there.

Early life and education
Gonzalez was born in New York City to a second-generation Puerto Rican mother and Mexican-American father and raised by her grandparents in the area between Bensonhurst and Borough Park. 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. At Brown she intended to study creative writing but ultimately majored in art history. 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." 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.

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. In June 2022, Gonzalez was elected a trustee of Brown University.

Gonzalez was named a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary for her work writing the newsletter Brooklyn, Everywhere.

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.  Kirkus Reviews'' called the book "atmospheric, intelligent, and well informed: an impressive debut." Gonzalez is currently writing and co-executive producing alongside filmmaker Alfonso Gómez-Rejón, a pilot for a drama based on the novel produced by Hulu and starring Aubrey Plaza and Ramon Rodriguez.

Other works
In 2024, her follow-up novel Anita de Monte Laughs Last was published. The novel largely received positive reviews, with NPR writing that "Gonzalez's second novel brilliantly surpasses the promise of her popular debut Olga Dies Dreaming". 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. 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.

Novels

 * Olga Dies Dreaming (Flatiron Books, 2022, ISBN 978-1250786173)
 * Anita de Monte Laughs Last (Flatiron Books, 2024, ISBN 978-1250786210)