The son of Cuban immigrants who settled in New York City, Oscar Hijuelos is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author who is best known for his novel The Mambo Kings Sing Songs of Love. Although he writes entirely in English, Hijuelos was the first Latino novelist to receive the Pulitzer Prize in English, and he was one of the first of a growing group of Hispanic writers to be read by a broad American audience. He provides a look at the bittersweet experiences of immigrant life in compelling and accessible prose.

Hijuelos was born on August 24, 1951, in New York City. He grew up on 118th Street in the section of New York known as Spanish Harlem, just a few blocks from where he lives today. During his teenage years, Hijuelos told Michael Coffey in Publishers Weekly, "I was always in a band, mostly with Puerto Rican guys; we played Top-...