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Pulitzer prize winner Oscar Hijuelos dies at 62 Pulitzer prize winner Oscar Hijuelos dies at 62
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Oscar Hijuelos, a Cuban-American novelist who won a Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, has died. The 62 year-old suffered a heart attack while playing tennis in Manhattan on Saturday, his agent Jennifer Lyons said. Oscar Hijuelos, a Cuban-American novelist who won a Pulitzer prize for his novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, has died. The 62-year-old suffered a heart attack while playing tennis in Manhattan on Saturday, his agent Jennifer Lyons said.
The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, published in 1989, tells the story of two Cuban brothers who journey from Havana to New York to start an orchestra.The book, which became a best seller and won international acclaim, was eventually turned into a movie starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas. The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, published in 1989, tells the story of two Cuban brothers who travel from Havana to New York to start an orchestra. The book, which became a bestseller and won international acclaim, was eventually turned into a movie starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas.
In 1990, Hijuelos won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction – the first Hispanic writer to receive that honour. In 1990, Hijuelos won the Pulitzer prize for fiction – the first Hispanic writer to receive that honour.
In his 2011 memoir, Thoughts Without Cigarettes, he wrote of his struggle with the "ethnic" writer label and noted that even today, there are few other Latino authors whose work has been awarded the same recognition. In his 2011 memoir, Thoughts Without Cigarettes, he wrote of his struggle with the "ethnic" writer label and noted that even today there are few other Latino authors whose work has been awarded the same recognition.
After a trip with his mother to Cuba as a young child, he became ill with a kidney disease and was hospitalised for a year, during which he lost his ability to speak Spanish.After a trip with his mother to Cuba as a young child, he became ill with a kidney disease and was hospitalised for a year, during which he lost his ability to speak Spanish.
"For the longest time, all I would know was that I had gotten sick in Cuba, from Cuban microbios, that the illness had blossomed in the land of my forebears, the country where I had once been loved and whose language fell as music on my ears," Hijuelos wrote. "Of course, diseases happen anywhere, and children get sick under any circumstances, but what I would hear for years afterward from my mother was that something Cuban had nearly killed me and, in the process of my healing, would turn my own 'Cubaness' into air.""For the longest time, all I would know was that I had gotten sick in Cuba, from Cuban microbios, that the illness had blossomed in the land of my forebears, the country where I had once been loved and whose language fell as music on my ears," Hijuelos wrote. "Of course, diseases happen anywhere, and children get sick under any circumstances, but what I would hear for years afterward from my mother was that something Cuban had nearly killed me and, in the process of my healing, would turn my own 'Cubaness' into air."
His other novels include Our House in the Last World, Empress of the Splendid Season, Dark Dude, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien and A Simple Habana Melody.His other novels include Our House in the Last World, Empress of the Splendid Season, Dark Dude, The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien and A Simple Habana Melody.
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