Sarduy went to the equivalent of high school in Camagüey and in 1956 moved to Havana, where he began a study of medicine. With the triumph of the Cuban revolution he collaborated with the Diario libre and Lunes de revolución, pro-marxist papers. In 1960 he traveled to Paris to study at the Ecole du Louvre. There he was connected to the group of intellectuals who produced the magazine Tel Quel, particularly to philosopher François Wahl, with whom he was openly involved. Sarduy worked as a reader for Editions du Seuil and as editor and producer of the Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française. In 1972 his novel Cobra won him the Medici Prize. He was among the most brilliant essayists writing in Spanish and "a powerful baroque narrator, full of surprising resources.". As a poet, he was considered one of the greatest of his time. He was also a more or less secret painter; a major retrospective of his work was held at the Reina Sofía Museum of Madrid after his death. He died due to complications from AIDS just after finishing his autobiographical work Los pájaros de la playa.

Along with José Lezama Lima, Virgilio Piñera, and Reinaldo Arenas, Sarduy is one of the most famous Cuban writers of the twentieth century; some of his works deal explicitly with male homosexuality and transvestism.

English

• “Severo Sarduy (1937-93).” The encyclopedia of caribbean literature.Vol. 2: M-Z. Ed. D.H. Figueredo. Rolando Pérez., 2006
• The review of contemporary fiction : Douglas Glover, Blaise Cendrars, Severo Sarduy / Rolando Pérez., 2004
• Hispanic literature criticism. Supplement / Susan Salas., 1999
• Between the self and the void : essays in honor of Severo Sarduy / Alicia Rivero Potter., 1998
• Orientalism in the Hispanic literary tradition : in dialogue with Borges, Paz, and Sarduy / Julia Kushigian., 1991
• Severo Sarduy and the religion of the text / Rolando Perez., 1988
• The name game : writing/fading writer in De donde son los cantantes / Oscar Montero., 1988

Spanish

• Severo Sarduy : alcances de una novelística y otros ensayos / Johan Gotera., 2005
• Severo Sarduy : escrito sobre un rostro / Oneyda González., 2003
• La imagen y el cuerpo : Lezama y Sarduy / Virgilio López Lemus., 1997
• Severo Sarduy y Pedro Almodóvar : del barroco al kitsch en la narrativa y el cine postmodernos / Alejandro Varderi., 1996
• Escrito sobre Severo : una relectura de Sarduy / Francisco Cabanillas., 1995
• Author/lector : Huidobro, Borges, Fuentes y Sarduy / Alicia Rivero Potter., 1991
• La ruta de Severo Sarduy / Roberto González Echevarría., 1987
• La estrategia neobarroca / Gustavo Guerrero., 1987
• La temática novelística de Severo Sarduy : De dónde son los cantantes / José Sánchez-Boudy.,1985
• Severo Sarduy : el neobarroco de la transgresión / Adriana Méndez Rodenas., 1983
• Severo Sarduy / Jorge Aguilar Mora., 1976