About the Book

Dark Dude

Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Oscar Hijuelos brings to life a haunting choice and an unforgettable journey about identity, misidentity, and all that we take with us when we run away.

Dark Dude is about a Cuban teen living in New York City. He is uncharacteristically fair-skinned, and his light hair and lighter skin make him the punching bag for the whole neighborhood. Sparked by this and the violence and drug abuse that plague his school, Rico decides his best option for realizing his dreams of writing comic books is to run away.

The Midwest is the land of milk and honey, but for Rico Fuentes, it's really a last resort. In Wisconsin, Rico could blend in. Trading Harlem for Wisconsin, though, means giving up on a big part of his identity. And when Rico no longer has to prove that he's Latino, he almost stops being one. Except he can never have an ordinary white kid's life, because there are some things that can't be left behind, that can't be cut loose or forgotten. These are the things that will be with you forever. These are the things that will follow you a thousand miles away.

About the Author

Oscar Hijuelos is a first-generation Cuban-American and the first Latino to win the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. His first novel, Our House in the Last World, was published in 1983 and received the 1985 Rome Prize, awarded by the American Academy in Rome. His second novel, The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, received the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. It was adapted for the film "The Mambo Kings" in 1992 and as a Broadway musical in 2005. His most recent is A Simple Habana Melody. He lives in, and is a native of, New York City.

About the Guest Interviewer

Carlos Frías is a natural observer who spent his formative years as a journalist traveling the South, primarily as a sports reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This "Southern Fried Cuban" has known the country on an intimate level, painting portraits of America's most recognizable sports figures and reporting on the hotly debated topics in sports.

Frías, today a special projects reporter in sports for The Palm Beach Post, says he is "assembled in America from Cuban parts." As a child, he observed life from beyond The Border. A South Florida native who grew up just north of the Dade-Broward County line, Frias gained the perspective of a boy born of Cuban exiles, but raised among the "gringos." He learned from watching the lights of Little Havana glitter in the distance and hearing the stories of Cuba stitched together in three decades of anecdotes.

Fully bilingual, he travels easily between those worlds and brings his unique cultural sense to his writings. In 2006, he journeyed through Cuba, where he reported a five-part series of first-person stories about his family for which he was named the Best of Cox Writer of the Year. His book, "Take Me With You," based on the series, was published by Atria Books/Simon & Schuster in November of 2008. The Associated Press Sports Editors have awarded him eight top-10 awards in the past five years for his work on in-depth features and investigative stories, including a first-place finish in 2007. Read that story here. Frías, 31,  resides in Pembroke Pines, Fla., with his wife, Christine. They have three daughters, Elise, Amelia and Catalina.