Oscar J. Hijuelos. August 24, 1951 – October 12, 2013. The son of Cuban immigrants, Oscar Hijuelos lived here from 1951 to 1971, where he first began to write and play guitar and piano. Literature and music would be his life-long passions. A student at Bronx Community College, Manhattan Community College, and Lehman College before entering the City College of New York where he received his B.A. and M.F.A., he was the recipient of The Rome Prize for his first novel, Our House in the Last World (1983). Hijuelos became the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1990 for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989). He explored the immigrant experience and celebrated the Morningside Heights neighborhood in The Mambo Kings, which was adapted as a film in 1992 and a musical in 2005. In 1998, he married writer and editor Lori Marie Carlson.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Oscar Hijuelos lived here from 1951 to 1971, where he first began to write and play guitar and piano. Literature and music would be his life-long passions. A student at Bronx Community College, Manhattan Community College, and Lehman College before entering the City College of New York where he received his B.A. and M.F.A., he was the recipient of The Rome Prize for his first novel, Our House in the Last World (1983). Hijuelos became the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1990 for The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love (1989). He explored the immigrant experience and celebrated the Morningside Heights neighborhood in The Mambo Kings, which was adapted as a film in 1992 and a musical in 2005. In 1998, he married writer and editor Lori Marie Carlson.
Erected 2014 by Historic Landmarks Preservation Center.
Location. 40° 48.474′ N, 73° 57.562′ W. Marker is in Manhattan, New York, in New
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York County. It is in Morningside Heights. Marker is on West 118th Street east of Amsterdam Avenue. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 419 West 118th Street, New York NY 10027, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Photographed By Andrew Ruppenstein, October 4, 2016
2. Oscar J. Hijuelos Marker - Wide View
The marker is visible here to the right of the entryway.
from The Los Angeles Times, unknown
3. Oscar J. Hijuelos
Credits. This page was last revised on January 31, 2023. It was originally submitted on October 7, 2016, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. This page has been viewed 420 times since then and 8 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on October 7, 2016, by Andrew Ruppenstein of Lamorinda, California. 3. submitted on April 11, 2020, by Larry Gertner of New York, New York.