Oscar Hijuelos is writing a companion novel to his Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love" and also plans a memoir that will include his encounters with such musicians as Ruben Blades and Lou Reed.
The two books were announced jointly Tuesday by Hyperion Books, which will publish the novel ("Beautiful Maria of My Soul") in 2009, and Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) that will release his memoir, "Thoughts Without Cigarettes," in 2010.
