Xochitl Gonzalez
{{Short description|American novelist and producer}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Xochitl Gonzalez
| education = {{unbulleted list|Edward R. Murrow High School|Brown University|Iowa Writers' Workshop}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York
| notable_works = Olga Dies Dreaming
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1977}}
| image = Xochitl Gonzalez 9033383.jpg
}}
Xochitl Gonzalez ({{IPAc-en|'|s|ou|ch|i:|l}}, {{respell|SO|cheel}};{{Cite web|url=https://www.xochitlgonzalez.com/|title=Xochitl Gonzalez|website=www.xochitlgonzalez.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://herewereadforfun.com/2022/06/20/in-conversation-with-xochitl-gonzalez/|title=In Conversation with Xochitl Gonzalez|date=June 20, 2022}} born 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.{{Cite web|url=https://boingboing.net/2023/04/09/olga-dies-dreaming-and-war-against-all-puerto-ricans-are-the-same-book.html/amp|title="Olga Dies Dreaming" and "War Against All Puerto Ricans" are the same book|date=April 10, 2023}}
In 2021, she began writing the newsletter "Brooklyn, Everywhere" for The Atlantic.{{Cite web |date=2021-11-02 |title=The Atlantic Introduces Suite of Newsletters for Subscribers |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/press-releases/archive/2021/11/atlantic-introduces-suite-newsletters-subscribers/620584/ |access-date=2023-05-12 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}} In 2023, she joined The Atlantic as a staff writer and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary for her work there.{{Cite web |title=Commentary |url=https://www.pulitzer.org/prize-winners-by-category/212 |access-date=February 12, 2024 |website=The Pulitzer Prizes}}
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{{Cite web |last=Gonzalez |first=Xochitl |date=April 12, 2024 |others=Amanda Knox and Mary Murphy |title=Xochitl Gonzalez, class of 1999 |url=https://sites.brown.edu/pembrokeoralhistory/2024/04/12/xochitl-gonzalez-class-of-1999/ |access-date=2024-06-17 |website=Pembroke Center Oral History Project |language=en-US |type=Interview}} in the area between Bensonhurst and Borough Park.{{Cite web|last=Gonzalez|first=Xochitl|date=2014-08-26|title=Made In Brooklyn: What's the Essence of the Borough That's Become an Adjective?|url=https://medium.com/@XochitltheG/made-in-brooklyn-whats-the-essence-of-the-borough-thats-become-an-adjective-c74b05ee5a1c|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Medium|language=en}} 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.{{Cite book |last=Gonzalez |first=Xochitl |title=Olga dies dreaming |date=2022 |isbn=978-0-349-72668-7 |edition=1 |location=New York |oclc=1246141315}} At Brown she intended to study creative writing but ultimately majored in art history.{{Cite web|date=2022-01-04|title=From poor kid to elite wedding planner to debut author: Xochitl Gonzalez feels 'divine'|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2022-01-04/xochitl-gonzalez-author-of-olga-dies-dreaming|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US}} 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."{{Cite web|last=Gonzalez|first=Xochitl|date=2020-09-11|title=Good-bye to Century 21, the Store Where I Grew Up|url=https://www.thecut.com/2020/09/century-21-memories-closing-bankruptcy.html|access-date=2022-01-05|website=The Cut|language=en-us}} 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.{{Cite web |last=González-Ramírez |first=Andrea |date=2024-03-04 |title=Xochitl Gonzalez's Ghost Story |url=https://www.thecut.com/article/xochitl-gonzalez-anita-de-monte-laughs-last-interview.html |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=The Cut |language=en}}
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.{{Cite web|title=Read The First Pages Of A Rising Literary Star's First Novel Before Its Release|url=https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/xochitl-gonzalez-olga-dies-dreaming-excerpt-cover-reveal|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Bustle|date=29 April 2021 |language=en}} In June 2022, Gonzalez was elected a trustee of Brown University.{{Cite web |title=Brown Corporation elects two new fellows, eight trustees |url=https://www.brown.edu/news/2022-06-01/corporation |access-date=2022-06-07 |website=Brown University |language=en}}
Gonzalez was named a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary for her work writing the newsletter Brooklyn, Everywhere.
Career
= ''Olga Dies Dreaming'' =
{{Main|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.{{Cite news|title=Review {{!}} Say 'I do' to Xochitl Gonzalez's 'Olga Dies Dreaming'|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2022/01/04/olga-dies-dreaming-xochitl-gonzalez-book-review/|access-date=2022-01-05|issn=0190-8286}}{{Cite web|title=Xochitl Gonzalez's Debut Novel Is a Pivotal Examination of Puerto Ricanness|url=https://jezebel.com/xochitl-gonzalezs-debut-novel-is-a-pivotal-examination-1848221114|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Jezebel|date=4 January 2022 |language=en-us}} Kirkus Reviews called the book "atmospheric, intelligent, and well informed: an impressive debut."{{Cite book|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/xochitl-gonzalez/olga-dies-dreaming/|title=OLGA DIES DREAMING {{!}} Kirkus Reviews|language=en}} Gonzalez is currently writing and co-executive producing{{Cite web|last=Zorrilla|first=Mónica Marie|date=2021-04-29|title=Hulu Orders Nuyorican Sibling Drama Pilot 'Olga Dies Dreaming' With Xochitl Gonzalez and Alfonso Gómez-Rejón Producing|url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/xochitl-gonzalez-alfonso-gomez-rejon-hulu-olga-dies-dreaming-1234963564/|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Variety|language=en-US}} alongside filmmaker Alfonso Gómez-Rejón, a pilot for a drama based on the novel produced by Hulu and starring Aubrey Plaza and Ramon Rodriguez.{{Cite web|last=Otterson|first=Joe|date=2021-08-02|title=Aubrey Plaza to Star in Hulu Drama Pilot 'Olga Dies Dreaming'|url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/aubrey-plaza-olga-dies-dreaming-hulu-1235032712/|access-date=2022-01-05|website=Variety|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|last=Goldberg|first=Lesley|date=2021-08-04|title=Ramon Rodriguez Joins Aubrey Plaza in Hulu's 'Olga Dies Dreaming'|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ramon-rodriguez-aubrey-plaza-olga-dies-dreaming-1234992683/|access-date=2022-01-05|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US}}
= Other works =
In 2024, her follow-up novel Anita de Monte Laughs Last was published. The novel largely received positive reviews,{{Cite web |title=Book Marks reviews of Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xochitl Gonzalez |url=https://bookmarks.reviews/reviews/anita-de-monte-laughs-last// |access-date=April 16, 2024 |website=Book Marks |language=en-US}} with NPR writing that "Gonzalez's second novel brilliantly surpasses the promise of her popular debut Olga Dies Dreaming".{{Cite news |last=Bell |first=Carole V. |date=March 6, 2024 |title='Anita de Monte Laughs Last' is a complex dissection of art, gender and marriage |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/03/06/1236279729/xochitl-gonzalez-anita-de-monte-laughs-last-book-review |work=NPR |access-date=2024-03-11}} 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.{{Cite news |last=Korelitz |first=Jean Hanff |author-link=Jean Hanff Korelitz |date=2024-03-04 |title=Inspired by a Real Mystery, This Novel Skewers the Art World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/books/review/anita-de-monte-laughs-last-xochitl-gonzalez.html |access-date=2024-03-11 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} 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.
Her 2022 seminal and viral essay [https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/let-brooklyn-be-loud/670600/ "Why Do Rich People Love Quiet?"] on Gentrification of Noise explores the relationship between class and noise and the desire of the wealthy to impose their norms on others.{{Cite news |last=Gonzalez |first=Xochitl |date=2022-08-01 |title=Why Do Rich People Love Quiet? |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/09/let-brooklyn-be-loud/670600/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |work=The Atlantic |language=en |issn=2151-9463}} It was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and it inspired a study at the University of Connecticut that tracked the movements of Latine and white students on campus to measure their preference for noise.{{Cite web |last=Phillips |first=Kimberly |date=2024-12-23 |title=‘Let’s Get Loud:’ New Study Says Latine Individuals Seek Noisier Experiences Based on Culture |url=https://today.uconn.edu/2024/12/lets-get-loud-new-study-says-latine-individuals-seek-noisier-experiences-based-on-culture/# |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=UConn Today |language=en-US}} In 2025, Gonzalez coined the phrase "[https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/class-money-finances/682301/ Comfort Class]," a term to describe "people who were born into lives of financial stability" whose "disconnect from the lives of the majority has expanded to such a chasm that their perspective—and authority—may no longer be relevant."{{Cite web |last=Gonzalez |first=Xochitl |date=2025-04-06 |title=What the Comfort Class Doesn’t Get |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/04/class-money-finances/682301/ |access-date=2025-04-08 |website=The Atlantic |language=en}}
Bibliography
= Novels =
- {{cite book |last=Gonzalez |first=Xochitl |author-mask=2 |title=Olga Dies Dreaming |title-link=Olga Dies Dreaming |year=2022 |publisher=Flatiron Books |isbn=9781250786173 |edition=hardcover 1st}}
- {{cite book |last=Gonzalez |first=Xochitl |author-mask=2 |title=Anita de Monte Laughs Last |year=2024 |publisher=Flatiron Books |isbn=9781250786210 |edition=hardcover 1st}} {{Cite news |last=Korelitz |first=Jean Hanff |date=2024-03-04 |title=Inspired by a Real Mystery, This Novel Skewers the Art World |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/04/books/review/anita-de-monte-laughs-last-xochitl-gonzalez.html |access-date=2024-03-18 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.xochitlgonzalez.com/ Official website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Xochitl}}
Category:Brown University alumni
Category:Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni
Category:21st-century American women writers