Oscar Hijuelos

writer and novelist

Oscar Hijuelos was born to Cuban parents in New York City in 1951. He is a recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the Rome Prize and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, among others. Known and admired around the world, Hijuelos has published five novels, which have been translated into 25 languages.

His second novel catapulted him onto the bestseller list and earned him international acclaim. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989), set in the 1950s, tells the story of Cuban brothers and their journey from Havana to New York where they start an orchestra. Described as lyrical and exhilarating by critics, the novel won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1990, making Hijuelos the first Hispanic writer to receive this honor. The book was later turned into a film starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas.

Oscar Hijuelos appears in the following:

Tributes: Oscar Hijuelos

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Oscar Hijuelos was a warm, robust, Cuban-American writer who brought to life in his books the colorful neighborhood of northern Morningside Heights, where he grew up.  In the process, he won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for his 1989 work, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. The novel was later made into a movie starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas.  Hijuelos died suddenly while playing tennis this Saturday, at the age of 62.  You can hear his 2002 conversation with Leonard Lopate about his novel, A Simple Habana Melody (from when the world was good), and their 2011 conversation about his memoir, Thoughts Without Cigarettes.

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Oscar Hijuelos on Thoughts Without Cigarettes

Monday, June 06, 2011

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos talks about the real people and places that have influenced his life and, in turn, his writing. His memoir Thoughts Without Cigarettes is an account of growing up in Manhattan's Morningside Heights, his stay at a Dickensian home for terminally ill children, and his quest for his true identity into adulthood, revealing the true stories and indelible memories that shaped his work.

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Guest Picks: Oscar Hijuelos

Monday, June 06, 2011

Oscar Hijuelos shares some of what he's been reading and watching lately after appearing on The Leonard Lopate Show.

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The Greene Space

A Global Piano and Literary Salon: The Soul of Cuba

Thursday, October 21, 2010

7:00 PM

Join world-renowned jazz pianist Chuchito Valdés and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Oscar Hijuelos to celebrate Cuban culture through music, readings, food, wine and lively conversation.