Chely Lima (1957 – January 21, 2023) was a Cuban American queer writer of novels, poetry, and plays, as well as a photographer, editor, and screenwriter. Biography Lima was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1957. His father was a doctor, and he had several half-siblings. He was educated in his native city, including studying Japanese at the Instituto de Idiomas Máximo Gorki in Miramar. In 1978 he began to work in the offices of the Instituto Cubano del Arte e Industria Cinematográficos, and the following year he began to work in radio, writing for a musical and news show. In 1979 he met the writer Alberto Serret, who became his husband and collaborator on many literary and artistic projects. The couple worked so closely together, "It's not possible for me to delineate Chely and Alberto," their longtime friend and fellow poet Sigfredo Ariel said. The following year, the two moved to Isla de la Juventud, where Lima worked with a children's theater group and as a literary advisor. He also began working as an editor of a literary magazine. His first book of poems, Tiempo nuestro, was released in 1981, after having won the University of Havana's 13 de Marzo Prize the previous year. The next year he published a book of stories, Monólogo con lluvia, which had also been recognized in 1980 with the David Prize. Lima published his first works of science fiction in the 1983 book Espacio abierto, written in collaboration with Serret, with whom he also wrote his first work of theater, Retratos, which was published the following year. In 1986 he began to write TV scripts for the series Del lado del corazón, also with Serret. The following year the couple premiered Violente, the very first Cuban rock opera. He received the 13 de Marzo prize again in 1987 for his children's book El barrio de los elefantes. In that same year he also wrote the TV series Hoy es siempre todavía in collaboration with Serret, Daína Chaviano, and Antonio Orlando Rodríguez, which also received several prizes. In 1990 he published his first work of crime fiction, the book of stories Los asesinos las prefieren rubias, again co-authored with Serret. The couple also released the cantata Señor de la alborada that year. The following year, Lima published his first novel, Brujas. In February of that year, Lima moved to Ecuador with his partner, where he