{"id":196622,"date":"2025-09-03T10:49:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T10:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/196622\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T10:49:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T10:49:10","slug":"chicago-public-library-picks-olga-dies-dreaming-for-2025-citywide-read-its-first-by-a-puerto-rican-author","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/196622\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago Public Library picks \u2018Olga Dies Dreaming\u2019 for 2025 citywide read, its first by a Puerto Rican author"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Public Library announced \u201cOlga Dies Dreaming\u201d by Xochitl Gonzalez<\/a> as its 2025 One Book, One Chicago<\/a> pick on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Annually, the library pulls together community leaders to select a book that touches on themes relevant to Chicagoans. Gonzalez\u2019s debut novel, named a \u201cBest of 2022\u201d by NPR and The New York Times, tells the stories of two successful Latino siblings who must confront the impact of long-held family secrets. It explores what happens when the siblings\u2019 estranged mother hurtles back into their lives.<\/p>\n

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The book more broadly examines the American dream, family relationships and political corruption.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I wanted to write a book that was kind of political and about a political situation that the average American just didn\u2019t really care about, which was the circumstance in Puerto Rico,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

At the time of writing, Gonzalez was a luxury wedding planner.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople loved to talk about wedding planning. They thought it was like the best thing ever, like I would always be very popular at cocktail parties,\u201d said Gonzalez, who is a writer for The Atlantic. \u201cThen the other thing that people found really fascinating was that my mother had been a militant socialist activist. She was the first Latina to run for a national office on the Socialist Workers Party ticket in 1984 for vice president.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the book is not explicitly autobiographical, Gonzalez drew from these personal experiences for the book, whose titular character is also a wedding planner from a politically active family.<\/p>\n

Although it\u2019s not set in Chicago, Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown said the book tells a story that feels local.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of narrative about activism and the history of the Young Lords. Some of the scenes that are community political meetings, and their council members remind me of Chicago alderpersons and community meetings in Chicago,\u201d Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s a real neighborhood vibe meets activism and community engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to select the title for One Book, One Chicago each year, the library gathers representatives from more than a dozen cultural institutions across Chicago to discuss possible selections. This year, Brown said the library focused on broadening who was at the table. The library invited organizations like the dance school La Escuelita Bombera de Corazon, Stay & Play Game Cafe and the Jazz Institute of Chicago.<\/p>\n

\u201cOlga Dies Dreaming\u201d stood out for several reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s already been voted a top read by our own Chicago librarians. It\u2019s been a popular book within our own library card holders. And then we\u2019re also looking for, what are the fresh reads? We\u2019ve never had a Puerto Rican author,\u201d Brown explained. \u201cI think every one of our Chicago Public Library team as they talked about the book, there was so much passion in how they spoke about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Additionally, since the book explores the ramifications of gentrification, Brown said this selection gives the library an opportunity to partner with The National Public Housing Museum<\/a>, which opened earlier this year. As part of community programming surrounding One Book, One Chicago, the library plans to host an event at the museum and to have the museum\u2019s CEO speak on a panel at the main downtown library location.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez will visit the Harold Washington Library Center for the keynote event Nov. 20.<\/p>\n

There will be 1,000 copies of the novel circulating throughout the city\u2019s library branches starting early this month.<\/p>\n

Previous One Book, One Chicago selections include \u201cTomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow<\/a>\u201d by Gabrielle Zevin and \u201cThere There<\/a>\u201d by Tommy Orange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Public Library announced \u201cOlga Dies Dreaming\u201d by Xochitl Gonzalez as its 2025 One Book, One Chicago…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":196623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[1022,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-196622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-books","8":"tag-books","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115139979869867215","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}