Quotes by Oscar Hijuelos

About Oscar Hijuelos:

Oscar Jerome Hijuelos was an American-born novelist of Cuban descent. During a year-long convalescence from a childhood illness spent in a Connecticut hospital he lost his knowledge of Spanish, his parents' native language. [clarification needed] He was educated in New York City, and wrote short stories and advertising copy.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

I like to encourage young talented writers to try and help them get published and so forth, but that's all. That's the best I can do.

Oscar Hijuelos

I have never - I have never let go of my childhood contacts. My best friends from childhood are still my best friends.

Oscar Hijuelos

When you write fiction, you can sort of invent more but also pack it with emotions that are very pertinent to you. Whereas with nonfiction, you have to be as factual as possible but also hopefully - also bring... emotional relevance to the piece.

Oscar Hijuelos

I teach at Duke, and I have students who are all of twenty who want to write memoirs, and you know it's all pretty interesting stuff, but a lot of them lack gravitas, you know.

Oscar Hijuelos

Nightclubs are the equivalent of a Catholic Church in a poor country. You hear a lot of stuff about churches filled with gold while the people are starving. But what elitists don't get is that for poor people, the church is their own mansion. Nightcl...

Oscar Hijuelos

Latins are predisposed to thinking about the past. Catholicism has a lot to do with it because Catholicism is a contemplation of the past, of symbols that are supposed to be eternally present.

Oscar Hijuelos

If you start believing all that press about you, you're in trouble. I don't even read my reviews.

Oscar Hijuelos

People in their forties, fifties, and onward enjoy the whole world of books in a different way than the Internet-age kids do.

Oscar Hijuelos

As a kid I had all kinds of questions about how I fit it with my neighborhood and friends and other Latinos.

Oscar Hijuelos

It's true that immigrant novels have to do with people going from one country to another, but there isn't a single novel that doesn't travel from one place to another, emotionally or locally.

Oscar Hijuelos

I enjoy listening to contemporary rock on the college stations while I'm taking long walks, love gospel and soul music, am fascinated by hip-hop and rap as the new kind of urban 'beat' poetry and, come to think of it, find something interesting about...

Oscar Hijuelos

Of course, I grew up hearing Latin music but, to be honest, aside from my personal circumstances, like most kids I wanted to rebel against what I considered to be such old fashioned fare.

Oscar Hijuelos

Music infuses your spirit with a certain energy that I try to convey in my work.

Oscar Hijuelos

When you're writing a novel - at least the way I write is I work from what I would call 'emotional atmosphere,' ambiance to ambiance.

Oscar Hijuelos

Author Bio

  • NameOscar Hijuelos
  • DescriptionAmerican novelist
  • AliasesOscar Jerome Hijuelos
  • BornAugust 24, 1951
  • DiedOctober 12, 2013
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionNovelist; Writer
  • WorksThe Mambo Kings Play Songs Of Love
  • AwardsPulitzer Prize For Fiction; Rome Prize