“I have always considered it despicable to grovel for your life as if life were a favor. If you cannot live the way you want, there is no point in living.“
- Name: Reinaldo Arenas
- Born: July 16, 1943
- Died: December 7, 1990
- From: Holguín, Oriente, Cuba
- Pronouns: He/him
- Contribution/Impact: Cuban-born writer and poet who fled to the US to escape Cuban persecution. He openly went against the regime and was part of many anti-Castro debates and movements during his time in the US. He wrote many novels and poems, many seized by Castro’s regime, but some were smuggled out.
- Occupation: Writer, poet
- Known For: Before Night Falls (1992), Singing from the Well (1967)
- Awards: Autobiography Before Night Falls was on the New York times ten best books of the year list in 1993, and made into a movie directed by Julian Schnable.
Reinaldo Arenas was a Cuban-born writer and poet. When he was a teenager, he was part of the resistance that put Fidel Castro in power. He was later persecuted by that same regime for living an openly homosexual life. In the 1970’s he was imprisoned, and while incarcerated wrote many novels that he was forced to disown after his time in prison. However, he did have some famous works smuggled out of Cuba, such as The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando, his most famous work. After his imprisonment, he fled to the United States, where he was openly against Castro, and participated in many movements to that degree. He suffered from AIDS, but ultimately died from suicide in 1990.
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