Cuban-born writer of extraordinary and unconventional novels who fled persecution and immigrated to the United States.

As a teenager Arenas joined the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power in 1959. He moved to Havana in 1961 and became a researcher in the José Martí National Library (1963–68), an editor for the Cuban Book Institute (1967–68), and a journalist and editor for the literary magazine La Gaceta de Cuba (1968–74).

His first novel, the award-winning Celestino antes del alba (1967; Singing from the Well), was the only one of his novels to be published in Cuba. His second and best-known novel, El mundo alucinante (1969; Hallucinations: Being an Account of the Life and Adventures of Friar Servando Teresa de Mier; also published as The Ill-Fated Peregrinations of Fray Servando), was smuggled out of the country and first published in French. During the 1970s, Arenas was imprisoned for his writings and open homosexuality.

In 1980 Arenas escaped (during the mass exodus from the port of Mariel) to the United States. There he finally published Otra vez el mar (1982; Farewell to the Sea), the manuscript of which had been confiscated by the Cuban government. His other novels included La vieja Rosa (1980; Old Rosa); Necesidad de liberdad (1986), a book of lectures and essays; La loma del ángel (1987; Graveyard of the Angels); and El portero (1988; The Doorman).

Suffering from AIDS, Arenas committed suicide in 1990. Some of his posthumously published works are Viaje a La Habana: novela en tres viajes (1990; “Journey to Havana: A Novel in Three Trips”) and Antes que anochezca: autobiografía (1992; Before Night Falls).