Polish (that's Pole-ish, not Paul-ish) was the first language of Josef Conrad. Russian was the first language of Vladimir Nabokov. And Hindi is the first language (I think) of VS Naipaul.
All three men were (or are, in Naipaul's case) great stylists in their adopted language.
How about Ha Jin, an exile from Red China? He taught himself English at night and is now professor of English at Emory and a front rank American novelist.