Elvira Gonzales

Elvira K. Gonzalez is the author and narrator of Hurdles in the Dark, acquired in a six-figure pre-emptive deal - the highest advance for a YA nonfiction title in 2022. The book has earned national recognition, including selection for the 2025 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List, CBC Favorites and the Harris County Public Library Tournament of Books.

Elvira founded Writers Inkubator (WI), a literary co-agency supporting writers from first spark to post publication. WI has helped launch first time authors and global changemakers, including Jaha Dukureh, a 2x Nobel Peace Prize nominee and Roderick Sewell, a Paralympic athlete representing Team USA. In 2026, the company will relaunch as Hartwell Agency, managing talent across publishing, film, music and digital platforms.
Before her literary career, Elvira competed as a 3x Texas UIL State qualifier, later qualifying for the NCAA National Championships and the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships. She coached Track & Field at The Armory and UPenn.

HURDLES IN THE DARK (YA Memoir, Published: Roaring Brook, Macmillan)

2025 Kansas NEA Reading Circle List Selection
2025 CBC Young Adult Favorites Winner
2025 CBC Teacher Favorites Winner

Twenty-four hours: that's how long fourteen-year-old Elvira Gonzalez is given to come up with the $40,000 she needs to save her kidnapped mother from a drug cartel. It's 2006 and Elvira's hometown of Laredo, Texas, has become engulfed by the Mexican Drug War. Elvira's life is unraveling around her—setting her on a harrowing path that leads her to being locked up in one of South Texas's worst juvenile detention centers.

After Elvira's released from juvie, she's resolved to never go back. That's when her unexpected salvation arrives in the form of 33-inch-high plastic hurdles. Determined to win a track scholarship out of Laredo, Elvira begins breaking into the school, alone, at 5:30 in the morning to practice hurdling. Soon, she catches the attention of a renowned high school coach, an adult man in his 30s. As they train, their coach-student relationship begins to change, becoming sexual. At just seventeen years old, Elvira experiences the dangers many young athletes face, especially those who are marginalized. In spite of these towering obstacles, Elvira eventually propels herself to become one of the top ranked hurdlers in the USA and the first in her family to go to college.

This inspiring true story of grit, tenacity, and hope traces Elvira's path as she overcomes impossible hurdles in her race to freedom.

Rights Sold: World
Rights Available: Inquire
Agent: Zeynep Sen