Arenas, Reinaldo

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Arenas, Reinaldo

• Arenas Fuentes, Reinaldo

1943-1990

Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright born in Holguín in 1943. As a teenager he joined Fidel Castro's revolutionary movement. He moved to Havana in 1961 and was a researcher at the Biblioteca Nacional de Cuba José Martí from 1963 to 1968. He later worked as an editor for the Instituto Cubano del Libro (1967-1968) and as a journalist and editor for La Gaceta de Cuba (1968-1974).

Arenas' first novel, Celestino antes del alba (1967) was the only one of his works to be published in Cuba. His second novel, El mundo alucinante (1969), was clandestinely taken out of Cuba and first published in French. During the 1970s, Arenas was imprisoned for his writings and homosexuality.

He eventually became a vocal critic of Castro's government, and in 1980, he fled Cuba during the Mariel Boatlift. Once living in the United States, he published the following works: Otra vez el mar (1982); La vieja rosa (1980); Necesidad de libertad (1986); La loma del ángel (1987); and El portero (1988).

Affected by AIDS, Arenas died by suicide in 1990. His posthumous works include Viaje a La Habana: novela en tres viajes (1990) and Antes que anochezca: autobiografía (1992).

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Biographical note written by Amanda Moreno, August 2021.

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https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reinaldo-Arenas