Oscar Hijuelos

Oscar Hijuelos
Oscar Jerome Hijuelos
Born August 24, 1951 (1951-08-24) (age 60) [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 - [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]

Oscar Jerome Hijuelos (born August 24, 1951) is an American novelist. He is the first Hispanic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.[3]

Contents

Early life and career

Hijuelos was born in New York City, in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, to Cuban immigrant parents, Pascual and Magdalena (Torrens) Hijuelos, both from Holguín, Cuba.[4][1][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]

His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 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 Broadway 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 was a member of the faculty of the Department of English.[9]

Bibliography

Major works

Contributions

  • 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.

Preceded by: Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler (1989 winner)

Pulitzer Prize Winners for Fiction

Succeeded by: Rabbit At Rest by John Updike (1991 winner)


Notes

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ Lori Marie Carlson: writer's website
  3. ^ Candelaria, Cordelia; Garcia, Peter J.; Aldama, Arturo J., Encyclopedia of Latino popular culture, Greenwood Publishing Group, 2004. Cf. pp.343-345
  4. ^ a b c d Cf. Hijuelos, Oscar, Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir (2011)
  5. ^ N.B. His father, Pascual, was originally from a farm near Jiguaní, Cuba. Cf. Hijuelos (2011)
  6. ^ 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 0805076166. 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'. ..."
  7. ^ Eder, Richard, "This Cuban-American boy’s life", The Boston Globe, Sunday, June 12, 2011. Review of the book "Thoughts Without Cigarettes".
  8. ^ "Hispanic Heritage Awards for Literature". Hispanic Heritage Foundation. http://www.hispanicheritage.org/hispanic_search.php?name=&opt2=10&opt3=0&x=6&y=10. Retrieved 11 January 2011. 
  9. ^ "Oscar Hijuelos, Professor of the Practice", Duke University, English Department faculty

Further reading

External links


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