Oscar Hijuelos
| Oscar Jerome Hijuelos | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 24, 1951 [1] New York City |
| Occupation | novelist |
| Language | English |
| Nationality | USA |
| Ethnicity | Cuban American |
| Education | B.A.; M.A. English [1] |
| Alma mater | City College of New York [1] |
| Period | 1983–present[1] |
| Genres | Cuban/American, Latino: fiction and memoirs |
| Notable work(s) | The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989) |
| Notable award(s) | - Rome Prize (American Academy in Rome) (1985) - Pulitzer Prize (1990) - Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature (2000) [1] |
| Spouse(s) | Lori Marie Carlson [2] |
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Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (born August 24, 1951) is an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[3]
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Early life and career [edit]
Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents, Pascual and Magdalena (Torrens) Hijuelos, both from Holguín, Cuba.[1][4][5] As a young child, he suffered from acute nephritis after a vacation trip to Cuba with his mother and brother, and was in St. Luke's Convalescent Hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut for almost a year and eventually recovered.[4]
He attended the Corpus Christi School in Morningside Heights,[6] public schools, and later attended Bronx Community College, Lehman College, and Manhattan Community College before matriculating into and studying writing at the City College of New York (B.A., 1975; M.A. in Creative Writing, 1976) [6] under Donald Barthelme, Susan Sontag, William S. Burroughs, Frederic Tuten, and others.[4] Barthelme became his mentor and friend.[7]
He then practiced various professions, including working for an advertising agency, Transportation Displays Inc. (TDI), before taking up writing full-time.[4]
Hijuelos received an Ingram Merrill Foundation Award in 1983, the year he published his first novel, Our House in the Last World. in 1985 the novel received the Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome.
His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film The Mambo Kings in 1992 and as a musical in 2005.
In 2000, Hijuelos received the Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature.[8]
He has taught at Hofstra University and has been affiliated with Duke University, where he is a member of the faculty of the Department of English.[9]
Bibliography [edit]
Major works [edit]
- Our House in the Last World (1983)
- The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989)
- The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien (1993)
- Mr. Ives' Christmas (1995)
- Empress of the Splendid Season (1999)
- A Simple Habana Melody (from when the world was good) (2002)
- Dark Dude (2008)
- Beautiful Maria of my Soul (2010)
- Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir (2011)
Contributions [edit]
- Preface, Iguana Dreams: New Latino Fiction, edited by Delia Poey and Virgil Suarez. New York, HarperPerennial, 1992.
- Introduction, Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing up Latino in the United States, edited by Lori M. Carlson. New York, Holt, 1994.
- Introduction, The Cuban American Family Album by Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler. New York, Oxford University Press, 1996.
- Contributor, Best of Pushcart Press III. Pushcart, 1978.
- Contributor, You're On!: Seven Plans in English and Spanish, edited by Lori M. Carlson. New York, Morrow Junior Books, 1999.
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Preceded by: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (1989 winner) |
Succeeded by: Rabbit At Rest by John Updike (1991 winner) |
Notes [edit]
- ^ a b c d e f Brennan, Elizabeth A.; Clarage, Elizabeth C., Who's who of Pulitzer Prize winners, Greenwood Publishing Group, 1999. Cf. p.245
- ^ Lori Marie Carlson: writer's website
- ^ Candelaria, Cordelia; Garcia, Peter J.; Aldama, Arturo J., Encyclopedia of Latino popular culture, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Cf. pp.343-345
- ^ a b c d Cf. Hijuelos, Oscar, Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir (2011)
- ^ N.B. His father, Pascual, was originally from a farm near Jiguaní, Cuba. Cf. Hijuelos (2011)
- ^ a b Carlson, Lori M.; and Hijuelos, Oscar, Red Hot Salsa : Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States, Macmillan, 2005. ISBN 0-8050-7616-6. Cf. Introduction, p.xvi. "Once, while in the fourth grade at Corpus Christi School, I received a Valentine's card that said 'I think you're cute'. ..."
- ^ Eder, Richard, "This Cuban-American boy’s life", The Boston Globe, Sunday, June 12, 2011. Review of the book "Thoughts Without Cigarettes".
- ^ "Hispanic Heritage Awards for Literature". Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
- ^ "Oscar Hijuelos, Professor of the Practice", Duke University, English Department faculty
Further reading [edit]
- Smith, Dinitia, "'Sisters' Act: Oscar Hijuelos, Mr. 'Mambo Kings', Plays a Different Song of Love", New York Magazine, March 1, 1993, pp. 46–51
External links [edit]
- Oscar Hijuelos Papers at the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Columbia University
- Oscar Hijuelos's page at HarperCollins
- Biography of Oscar Hijuelos from Thomson Gale
- 1990 Real Audio interview with Oscar Hijuelos at Wired for Books.org by Don Swaim
- "Author Oscar Hijuelos Tackles His Toughest Subject: Himself", Ray Suarez interview with Oscar Hijuelos, PBS NewsHour, Friday, June 24, 2011.
- Author page at New York Journal of Books with link to book review
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- 20th-century American novelists
- 21st-century American novelists
- American men novelists
- Pulitzer Prize for Fiction winners
- Writers from New York
- American people of Cuban descent
- American writers of Cuban descent
- Lehman College alumni
- People from Manhattan
- Duke University faculty
- 1951 births
- Living people
- Hispanic and Latino American novelists
- Hofstra University faculty
- Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
