Xochitl Gonzalez has an MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Prize in Fiction. She was the winner of the 2019 Disquiet Literary Prize and her work has been published on Ninth Letter, Joyland Magazine, Vogue and The Cut. Her debut novel Olga Dies Dreaming will be published in January ’22 by Flatiron Books.Prior to beginning her MFA, Xochitl was an entrepreneur and strategic consultant for nearly 15 years. She serves on the Board of the Lower East Side Girls Club. A native Brooklynite and proud public school graduate, she received her B.A. in Fine Art from Brown University. She lives in her hometown of Brooklyn with her dog, Hectah Lavoe.

Jaquira Díaz was born in Puerto Rico and raised in Miami. She is the author of Ordinary Girls, winner of a Whiting Award, a Florida Book Awards Gold Medal, and a Lambda Literary Awards finalist. Ordinary Girls was an Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Notable Selection, an Indie Next Pick, and a Library Reads selection. Díaz's work has been published in The Guardian, Time Magazine, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The Best American Essays, and is forthcoming in The Atlantic. She is the recipient of two Pushcart Prizes, an Elizabeth George Foundation grant, and fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Kenyon Review, and the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing.

Xochitl Gonzalez on Olga Dies Dreaming with Jaquira Díaz