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Benjamin Alire Sáenz was born in 1954 in his grandmother's house in Old Picacho, a small farming village in the outskirts of Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1954. He was the fourth of seven children and was raised on a small farm near Mesilla Park. Later, whenwhen the family lost the farm, his father went back to his former occupation—being a cement finisher. His mother worked as a cleaning woman and a factory worker. During his youth, he worked at various jobs—painting apartments, roofing houses, picking onions, and working for a janitorial service. He graduated from high school in 1972, and went on to college and became something of a world traveler. He studied philosophy and theology in Europe for four years and spent a summer in Tanzania. He eventually became a writer and professor and moved back to the border—the only place where he feels he truly belongs.

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Saenz, Benjamin Alire. (2012) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.  New York,   New York: Simon & Schuster.

Set in El Paso, Texas in 1987, this multi award winning book, is a coming of age story that  follows Aristotle "Ari" and Dante, two Mexican-American teens.  This critically acclaimed book follows Ari and Dante, their friendship, struggles with racial and cultural identity, sexuality, and family relationships.

Saenz, Benjamin Alire. (2012) Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Derby. El Paso,Texas: Puntos Press.

This book is a collection of seven stories, simply but beautifully written.  Set in the border cities of El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.  The Kentucky Club is bar that all the characters visit or have a connection with.  In addition, all seven stories touch on the theme of survival, living through pain, grief and loss, and the struggle to find and hold onto love.

Saenz, Benjamin Alire. (2009) Last Night I Sang to the Monster. El Paso, Texas: Cinco Punto Press.

In this book we follow eighteen year old Zach, who is bright, articulate, and an alcoholic. He is in rehab but does not remember how he got there. He worries that something terrible most have happened, for him to be there.

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I see the age range for Benjamin Alire Saenz's books to be within the 13-17 year old, age range.  His writing is straightforward and easy to read, but the content of his books contains subjects for a maturing audience.
A unique voice in Young Adult Literature, Saenz draws heavily on his own experiences for his books.  Common themes include sexuality, homophobia, race, culture, class, and sexuality.

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Sáenz came out as gay in the late 2000s, at age 54. He has acknowledged in interviews that he had difficulty coming to terms with his sexuality due to having been sexually abused as a child, and that he began to explore LGBT themes in his writing in part as a way to help himself work through his own issues with being gay.

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Benjamin Alire Saenz is a unique voice in Young Adult Literature. Although he has received numerous awards for his books and his poetry, there is not significant evidence that many of his books are assigned as required reading. For that reason, I am giving a 75/25 odds split for this author. Seventy-five percent being that his books are read for pleasure, and twenty-five percent that they are assigned as required reading in middle schools and high schools. I believe that with the focus for school to embrace diversity, individualism, and sexual orientation; there will be a move to assign more YA canon books, such as Saenz's, that support that shift.

2016 Lonestar Literary Life montage of pictures and book covers.

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe wins Multiple Awards

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Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe wins Multiple Awards

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A Printz Honor Book, The Stonewall Award winner,the Pura Belpre Award, the Lambida Literary Award winner, and a finalist for the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award.

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Benjamin Alire Sáenz is an author of poetry and prose for adults and teens. He is the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award and the American Book Award for his books for adults.

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The first Latino to win the PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction for Everything Begins and Ends at The Kentucky Club.

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The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is pleased to announce that author Benjamin Alire Sáenz has been selected as the winner of the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his collection of short fiction Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, which was published by Cinco Puntos Press. The judges- Walter Kirn, Nelly Rosario, and A.J. Verdelle-considered more than 350 novels and short story collections by American authors published in the U.S. during the 2012 calendar year. Finalists for this year's award include Amelia Gray for her novel Threats (Farrar, Straus, Giroux); Laird Hunt, author of Kind One (Coffee House Press); T. Geronimo Johnson, author of Hold it 'Til It Hurts (Coffee House Press); and Thomas Mallon, author of Watergate (Pantheon).

This year's winner and finalists will read at the 33rd Annual PEN/Faulkner Award Ceremony & Dinner on Saturday, May 4th at 7 p.m. at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The event is open to the public, and tickets can be purchased here.

For more information about this year's winner and finalists as well as information about the award ceremony, please visit our Award for Fiction page.

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Benjamin Alire Sáenz Wins 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

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The PEN/Faulkner Foundation is pleased to announce that author Benjamin Alire Sáenz has been selected as the winner of the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction for his collection of short fiction Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, which was published by Cinco Puntos Press. The judges- Walter Kirn, Nelly Rosario, and A.J.

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Awards and Recognition                  

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Awards and Recognition                  

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Named one of 2010's "Fifty of the Most Inspiring Authors in the World"by Poets & Writers magazine.

In 1993 Saenz was awarded the Literary Award for Poetry

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Lannan Foundation is a family foundation dedicated to cultural freedom, diversity and creativity through projects which support exceptional contemporary artists and writers, as well as inspired Native activists in rural indigenous communities.