Francisco Martínezcuello
Playwright. Fiction writer. Essayist. Journalist.
Writing about war, memory, identity, and the ways people reach for connection.
Photo: Timbre Beck
FEATURED PLAY
Salsa Night
Set on a U.S. base in Iraq in 2004, Salsa Night brings together two Marines, a Dominican-American infantryman and a Haitian-American Mortuary Affairs sergeant, in a story about war, memory, identity, and the ways people reach for connection.
Winner of the 2023 Lieutenant William Broyles Award. Presented in a July 2025 industry reading at The Players in New York, directed by Eric Tucker and presented by Savage Wonder.
THE ORIGIN STORY
The Motorcycle Writer
I started to write when I started to ride.
Writing and riding entered my life at nearly the same time. Writing became a way to make sense of experience. Riding became a way to move through it.
During a conversation about the things I had always wanted to do but never had, I said I had always wanted a motorcycle. The answer was simple: What’s stopping you?
The motorcycle came first. The stories followed. The Motorcycle Writer became the place where those two paths met.
Photo: Timbre Beck
SELECTED WRITING
Work across forms
Stories, essays, fiction, and reporting.
Fiction
Short stories and literary work exploring memory, identity, war, and connection.
Essays & Nonfiction
Personal essays, literary nonfiction, criticism, and writing across forms.
Journalism
Investigative, narrative, science, climate, and public-service reporting.