Oscar Hijuelos Papers, 1974-2005 [Bulk Dates: 1977-2003].Oscar Hijuelos (1951-2013) was born to Cuban immigrants in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City. His novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, was published in 1989 and won The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1990 -- the first novel by a Latino writer to win the prize. Since the enormous success of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, Hijuelos wrote six novels, all of which depict the lives of Cuban-born or Cuban-descended characters living in the United States: The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien (1993), Mr. Ives' Christmas (1995), Empress of the Splendid Season (1999), A Simple Habana Melody (2002), Dark Dude (2008), Beautiful Maria of My Soul (2010). His 2011 memoir is entitled Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir.