Greenwich Library welcomed Xochitl Gonzalez, author of 2022’s Greenwich Reads Together selection Olga Dies Dreaming on Tuesday in the Berkley Theater.
The conversation was moderated by Alicia Menendez, anchor of MSNBC’s “American Voices with Alicia Menendez.” The event recording can be viewed on the Library’s YouTube channel here.
Olga Dies Dreaming is a bold, thought-provoking novel about resilience and diaspora that presses readers to examine their ambitions and at what cost pursuing an American success story may come. The book debuted on The New York Times bestseller list after its release in January 2022. Months before it hit shelves, 20th Century Television ordered a series with Gonzalez attached as lead writer and co-executive producer.
Gonzalez’s novel follows adult siblings Olga and Pedro “Prieto” Acevedo, two high-profile names in their hometown of New York. Prieto is a popular, closeted congressman representing their gentrifying Latinx neighborhood in Brooklyn, while Olga is the tony wedding planner for Manhattan’s power brokers. Despite their glittery public lives, things are far less rosy behind closed doors. For Olga, the pursuit of perfection has become her survival mechanism, but a new love interest forces her to confront the effects of long-held family secrets. Blanca, Olga and Prieto’s politically radical mother who abandoned her children years ago to advance revolutionary causes, has come barreling back into their lives.
Set against the backdrop of New York City in the months surrounding the most devastating hurricane in Puerto Rico’s history, Olga Dies Dreaming (the title is an allusion to the Pedro Pietri poem “Puerto Rican Obituary,” which contains the lines “Olga / died waiting for a five dollar raise” and “Olga / died dreaming about real jewelry”) is a story that examines political corruption, familial strife, and the very notion of the American dream ― all while asking what it really means to weather a storm.
Xochitl Gonzalez, a native Brooklynite, fictionalized parts of her own biography for her debut novel, including the concepts of an absent, activist mother and Gonzalez’s actual career as a high-end wedding planner. She earned an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was an Iowa Arts Fellow and recipient of the Michener-Copernicus Prize in Fiction. She won the 2019 Disquiet Literary Prize, and her work has been published in Vogue, The Cut, Allure, Elle Decor, and more. She is a contributor to The Atlantic, where she explores gentrification of people and places in her weekly newsletter “Brooklyn, Everywhere.” Gonzalez earned a B.A. in Visual Arts from Brown University, where she is now a Trustee, and she serves on the Board of the Lower East Side Girls Club.
The conversation with Gonzalez was moderated by Alicia Menendez, anchor of MSNBC’s “American Voices with Alicia Menendez.” She is the creator and host of the podcast “Latina to Latina” and wrote the 2019 book The Likeability Trap. Menendez is a native of Union City, New Jersey; she earned a degree in Women’s Studies from Harvard.
Greenwich Reads Together is made possible through the support of The Friends of Greenwich Library.
Greenwich Reads Together is a community-wide reading experience which will engage all of Greenwich in exploring a single book. Several community organizations are leading this initiative including Greenwich Library, Greenwich Arts Council, Greenwich Historical Society, Greenwich Alliance for Education, Greenwich Pen Women, Greenwich Public Schools and Independent Schools, Friends of Greenwich Library, Perrot Memorial Library, and Retired Men’s Association of Greenwich. In 2020, almost 20 community organizations and thousands of Greenwich residents participated in events around two topical non-fiction titles, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson. Greenwich Reads Together is supported by the Friends of Greenwich Library. Numerous adult, children and teen book discussions were held across Greenwich. For more information, visit www.greenwichreadstogether.org.
The Greenwich Library system consists of the Main Library and its Byram Shubert and Cos Cob branches. The mission of Greenwich Library is to provide exceptional resources, programs and services that promote the joy of lifelong learning and discovery, and to offer a welcoming place for people to gather and share experiences. With 1,800 programs and events per year, the Library seeks to serve as the cultural and intellectual crossroads of the community. Greenwich Library’s circulation is among the highest of public libraries in Connecticut and has been named a five-star library by Library Journal for 11 of the past 12 years for the high number of patron visits, circulation, use of public computers and attendance at more than 2000 programs per year. Greenwich Library is located at 101 West Putnam Avenue in Greenwich. Cos Cob Library is located at 5 Sinawoy Road in Cos Cob. Byram Shubert Library is located at 21 Mead Avenue in Greenwich. More information is available online at www.greenwichlibrary.org or by calling 203-622-7900.