Melissa Lozada-Oliva is the child of Guatemalan and Colombian immigrants and the author of Dreaming of You and peluda. Her work has been featured in NPR, Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, PAPER, Armani Beauty, and more. She is a member of the band Meli and the Specs. She holds an MFA in poetry from NYU and lives in New York City.
"Lozada-Oliva’s imagination draws upon an inventive mix of
narrative traditions — from melodrama to zombie horror to slacker
comedy . . . a soapy, apocalyptic picaresque."—Tracy O'Neill,
The New York Times Book Review
"Lozada-Oliva's apocalyptic debut novel in prose is an ode to
complicated family dynamics, the overwhelming ways love can consume
and eat us alive."
—Pamela Avila, USA Today
"Equal parts poignant, hilarious and horrific, this novel is a
macabre feast for the senses—try a taste if you dare.
—Katherine Ouellette, WBUR
"Lozada-Oliva’s book explores the fraught but loving relationships
between three sisters, their mother, their grandmother, and their
connections, both real and imagined, with their Guatemalan
homeland. It offers deep insights into Latina/o/x/e family
dynamics, and is laugh-out-loud funny."
—Geraldo Cadava, Public Books
"Bonkers . . . the author's funhouse visions are hard to turn away
from."
—Publishers Weekly
"Melissa can turn a person into a hero, a cryptid, and someone
closer than family in the space of a page. She lives in a world
that’s just as flawed and messy and gross as ours, but sees the
beautiful, dark magic that the rest of us keep missing — probably
because she’s harnessed it so perfectly here. Candelaria is a
masterpiece from a writer destined to produce many."
—Jamie Loftus, author of Raw Dog
"Candelaria is a thrilling ride. Melissa Lozada-Oliva captures with
deft humor the lives of a matriarch and her brood of daughters and
granddaughters as they survive addiction, patriarchy, capitalism,
natural disasters, and zombies. Reading Lozada-Oliva's work is
like attending a family reunion, one where you hang in the backyard
smoking a joint with your favorite cousin. Melissa is a smart,
compassionate, and hilarious writer. I will read anything she
writes."
—Alejandro Varela, author of the 2022 National Book Award finalist
The Town of Babylon
"Electric from the first page, Lozada-Oliva's story of high-octane
family dynamics and transformation is swiftly paced and
deliciously vivid. Sparkling with character and dialogue,
Candelaria is not only a novel, but a multisensory experience."
—Amanda Montell, author of Cultish and Wordslut
"‘What’s the point of lying at the end of the world?’ In the
cataclysms holding the center of her wild and exuberant novel,
Melissa Lozada-Oliva shows our willingness to still keep big
secrets and hide hard truths, our everyday fears always greater
than the chaos of a world on the brink. Candelaria goes for broke
and why not? 'Names erode,' we are warned. But good stories?
Never."
—Manuel Muñoz, author of The Consequences
"Melissa takes us on an intense journey about the end of days,
showing us that family might be the only thing that will save us,
all while throwing in some Stephen King-level horror that’ll make
your heart race. This ride's a wild one – and you're gonna wanna be
on it."
—Oz Rodriguez, director of Vampires Vs. the Bronx
“Buckle up—Candelaria is a literary ride unlike any other. A wild
journey through generational trauma, untold truths, sibling rivalry
and intimacy via backroads lined with cinema, cult fitness and the
supernatural. Fear not, though the landscape Lozada-Oliva creates
is utterly original and chaotic at times, she is a masterful guide
whom I would follow anywhere. Heartbreaking, hilarious and absurd
in the very best way, Candelaria sticks to your soul and leaves you
seeing the world and the people in it a bit differently."
—Xochitl Gonzalez, Pulitzer Prize Finalist and author of Olga Dies
Dreaming
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