Cuban author, 1943-1990
Reinaldo Arenas was born in Holguin,
Cuba on July 16, 1943. While his childhood was spent living in the rural province of Oriente, he moved to
Havana at the age of nineteen to study at the
Universidad de La Habana. During ths early part of his life, he worked at the
Biblioteca Nacional José Martí. However, after having one of his novels (
Celestino antes del alba) win an honourable mention in a national competition, Arenas was jailed, partially under the accusation of having written and spread
counter-revolutionary materials, partially for having one of his novels published abroad without the consent of the government and the writer's union, and partially because he was
gay. Despite this, he managed to smuggle another of his books out of prison to be published abroad before his term ended.
Arenas ultimately left Cuba during the
Port of Mariel mass deportations. He eventually settled in
New York City. Eventually, however, Arenas contracted
AIDS. Arenas ultimately committed
assisted suicide on December 7, 1990. His
autobiography,
Antes que anochezca (
Before Night Falls,) was made into an excellent
film starring
Javier Bardem.