Xochitl Gonzalez

Xochitl Gonzalez (, ; born in 1977) is an American writer. 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 started 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 at the magazine.

Early life and education Gonzalez was born in New York City to a second-generation Puerto Rican mother and Mexican American father. However she grew up with her grandparents in the area of the city between Bensonhurst and Borough Park in Brooklyn. Her parents were union organizers and activists in the Socialist Workers Party. Her mother ran for office.

Gonzalez attended Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn and earned a scholarship to Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Gonzalez was inspired to become a professional writer after the death of her grandmother in 2017. The sale of her grandmother's home helped fund her writing efforts. She worked as an entrepreneur and consultant for many years before earning her MFA degree from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop in 2021.

Career 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 after the 2008 recession. Kirkus Reviews called the book "atmospheric, intelligent, and well informed: an impressive debut." Gonzalez wrote and co-executive produced, alongside filmmaker Alfonso Gómez-Rejón, a pilot for a drama based on the novel produced by Hulu. It starried Aubrey Plaza and Ramón Rodríguez. Hulu did not pick up the series.

In 2024, her follow-up novel Anita de Monte Laughs Last was published. NPR said, "Gonzalez's second novel brilliantly surpasses the promise of her popular debut Olga Dies Dreaming." The novel is about a college student, Raquel Toro, discovering the art of Anita de Monte, a character based on the Cuban artist Ana Mendieta. It inspired a study at the University of Connecticut in Storrs which tracked the movements of Latine and white students on campus to measure their preference for noise. In June 2022, she was elected a trustee of Brown University.

Gonzalez was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary finalist for writing the newsletter Brooklyn, Everywhere. In 2026 she published her third novel Last Night in Brooklyn. ''