Reinaldo Arenas was born in Holguín, Cuba, in 1943. His first novel, Singing from the Well, was awarded First Mention in Cuba's Cirilo Villaverde National Competition. It was to be his only book published in his native country. Both as a gay man and a writer, he found himself persecuted by the Cuban government, and had to smuggle his work out of the country for publication in France. He left Cuba in 1980 and settled in New York, where he lived until his death in 1990.

One of the most shattering testimonials ever written on the subject of oppression and defiance Mario Vargas Llosa Reading Arenas is like witnessing a bare consciousness in the process of assimilating the most universal, but powerful, human experiences and turning them into literature Robert Gonzalez Echevarria A document of a particular and disturbing honesty by one of the truly great writers to come out of Latin America Chicago Tribune One of the most searing satirical writers of the 20th century, a worthy successor to Aristophanes and Swift -- Jaime Manrique Village Voice

Reinaldo Arenas was born in Holguín, Cuba, in 1943. His first novel, Singing from the Well, was awarded First Mention in Cuba's Cirilo Villaverde National Competition. It was to be his only book published in his native country. Both as a gay man and a writer, he found himself persecuted by the Cuban government, and had to smuggle his work out of the country for publication in France. He left Cuba in 1980 and settled in New York, where he lived until his death in 1990.

One of the most shattering testimonials ever written on the subject of oppression and defiance Mario Vargas Llosa Reading Arenas is like witnessing a bare consciousness in the process of assimilating the most universal, but powerful, human experiences and turning them into literature Robert Gonzalez Echevarria A document of a particular and disturbing honesty by one of the truly great writers to come out of Latin America Chicago Tribune One of the most searing satirical writers of the 20th century, a worthy successor to Aristophanes and Swift -- Jaime Manrique Village Voice