Notable Hispanics: Oscar Hijuelos

Born to Cuban immigrants in 1951, New York City native Oscar Hijuelos would grow up to become the first Hispanic to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. He won that prestigious award for his second novel, "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love," a bestseller that earned the author international acclaim. The book would later be turned into a film starring Antonio Banderas and Armand Assante, and in 2005 the author himself adapted the novel for the stage.

Growing up in Manhattan, Hijuelos overcame a childhood ailment and went on to study writing at the City College of New York, where he earned his Master's Degree in 1976, studying under such renowned literary talents as Donald Barthelme, Susan Sontag and William S. Burroughs.

A recipient of the 2000 Hispanic Heritage Award for Literature, Hijuelos frequently explores what it means to be Hispanic in America in his works, which include "The Fourteen Sisters of Emilio Montez O'Brien," "A Simple Habana Melody (from when the world was good)" and a 2011 memoir titled "Thoughts Without Cigarettes: A Memoir."

Hijuelos continues to write and has taught writing at Hofstra University in New York and at Duke University in North Carolina.