Oscar Hijuelos turns the characters and experiences of his Cuban-American heritage into fictional works that consistently win both critical and popular praise. The author of eight internationally bestselling novels, Hijuelos was the first Latino to receive the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for fiction, honored for his lyrical second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, which was later turned into a film starring Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas. In his new memoir, Thoughts Without Cigarettes, Hijuelos chronicles his colorful experiences growing up in a working-class Manhattan neighborhood.