Alexandra Hidalgo

Words. Written, spoken, acted out, improvised, edited, reedited. Words are a royal pain to get right, but oh, so glorious when you do. I’ve written my share of bad poetry and some okay short stories, but my more eloquent authorial efforts have been in memoir and, lately, novels. My in-progress upmarket women’s fiction novel Grand Gestures is for fans of Emily Henry and Curtis Sittenfeld’s poignant portrayals of relationships and of Gilmore Girls’ delightfully tangled family dynamics.

In Grand Gestures, Ivy League professor Lucía Palacios sets out to save her family alongside her Broadway legend mother-in-law/best friend Francesca Solevino. Lucía, a 35-year-old Venezuelan woman living in the US, has what seems like an ideal life—a fairytale marriage to American Tony-winning playwright Leo Solevino, two kids, and a prestigious new job as an English professor. But with Lucía grieving over her parents’ recent passing and Leo struggling to write his latest musical, they find themselves attracted to other people for the first time in their fifteen-year marriage. The rift leaves Francesca in quite the maternal pickle of trying not to choose sides. Desperate to keep their family intact, they return to what they once did best—making musicals together. As these three witty optimists navigate the pressures of creating a Broadway hit while attempting to bring their family back from the brink, their lives are transformed in ways none of them could have foreseen.

Stay tuned for news on the novel.

A woman is sitting in her living room while an array of books surround her. She holds a pen as she smiles into the camera.

Selected Nonfiction Writing

A young couple stands in front of a wooded backdrop, smiling at the camera. The woman, wearing a cowboy hat, affectionately has her arm around the man.

Feedback As an Act of Love: How to Transform Storytelling by Listening to Others

MAI: Feminism & Visual Culture

You aim to create a spark without burning down the fragile structure that is someone’s in-progress project. The right kind of feedback is cautious and optimistic, a precarious act of faith and infinite possibility.

A young Agnès Varda smiles to the side, her hand resting on her chin, in a black and white photo.

Godmotherly Love

The Criterion Collection

They called Varda the grandmother of the French New Wave. So unique and propulsive was her vision that she could be said to be her own ancestor and her own progeny.

How ‘Gilmore Girls’ Rescued My Relationship with My Mother

Women and Hollywood

Some wounds, especially those that stem from fractures to our deepest connections, will always be there, but as the show so eloquently argues, that’s okay as long as we’re willing to reconcile again and again.

Filmmaking As Paying a Debt of Love: An Ode to My Father Wherever He May Be

Extraordinary Filmmakers: How to Make Films Against All Odds

When my father, Miguel Hidalgo, vanished, he left me with the potential for a captivating story, but I had to learn to how to be a storyteller first. That’s exactly the sort of quest that can give a brokenhearted six-year-old purpose and drive.

Ten Strategies for Creating Gender Equality I Learned at TheWrap’s Power Women Summit

agnès films: supporting women and feminist filmmakers

If you identify as a woman, pick up your camera, your pen, your mic. Pick up whatever instrument you choose and tell stories. And please, watch the stories that fellow women are telling so you can enjoy the world through their eyes and see your perspective reflected on the screen.