Benjamin Alire Sáenz, an acclaimed, award-winning Chicano author, poet, and young adult novelist, has died. He was 71.
Sáenz died after a lengthy illness on Tuesday, July 28, in El Paso.
He lived a fascinating life that included serving as a priest, a revered author and a beloved professor at the University of Texas at El Paso.
A few years ago, Sáenz summed up his life in four words: “My cup runneth over.”
He is best known for his young adult novel “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.” The 2012 novel, about two loners who become friends, was his most successful book, having sold more than 1 million copies worldwide.
During the pandemic, he finished the sequel, “Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World”.
It was an interesting year for Sáenz as he was named the winner of the Texas Institute of Letters’ prestigious Lon Tinkle Award for Lifetime Achievement. It is the highest honor awarded by the literary honor society, established in 1936 to recognize distinctive work and achievement.
In an El Paso Times article about his honor, he said, “A gay Mexican-American writer who lives on the border doesn’t exactly conjure up the traditional story of what we believe Texas to be. Awards are a gift and they are very much about the values of the organization that gives them. All I can say is that I am extremely grateful for the gift that the Texas Institute of Letters has given me. My cup runneth over.”
His friend, Sergio Troncoso, described him as the best Latin writer, highlighting his significant contributions to literature and his resilience in the face of homophobia and exclusion.
“It was very important to me to get the Texas Institute of Letters when I was president in 20 and 2021 and 2022 to give Ben the Lifetime Achievement Award because he richly deserved it and really had been and probably deserved the 10 years before,” he said.
“When I was rising up in the ranks of the Texas Institute of Letters, and I started having conversations with Ben, to bring him back into the organization, we had tearful conversations about the homophobia he faced in the 1980s and 1990s in Texas, and how he was excluded even though he was a great writer of poetry, young adult fiction, children’s literature and adult fiction,” he said. “Righting that wrong was for me one of the most important accomplishments that I could have done as president.”
Troncoso said there is no single piece of work that defines Sáenz.
“He has many great works. ‘Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club’ is a beautiful, short story collection, and that first story, ‘He’s Gone to be with the Women,’ is a masterful story. I am not surprised that the Penn Faulkner judges once they read that collection and read that first story, were just astonished that how beautifully crafted the lines were, how well developed the characters were, and the message of that story, just a masterful story. I’m sure they were very excited to give that collection the PENN/Faulkner Award.”
Sáenz was born in New Mexico on Aug. 16, 1954. He spent over three decades living, writing, and teaching near the U.S.–Mexico border. Sáenz was a professor in the bilingual MFA program of creative writing at the University of Texas at El Paso for decades.
He was a prolific author with more than 25 books published.
His books include The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, Last Night I Sang to the Monster, In Perfect Light, Carry Me Like Water, The Book of What Remains, Dreaming the End of War, The Last Cigarette on Earth, A Gift from Papa Diego, and The Dog Who Loved Tortillas.
For his work, Sáenz won the American Book Award, Patterson Book Prize, Stonewall Book Award, Pura Belpré Award, Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award, Southwest Book Award, and two TIL awards dedicated to children’s literature.
This story will be updated with services.
María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @eptmaria.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @eptmariacg on TikTok.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Acclaimed author Benjamin Alire Sáenz dies at 71 after illness
Reporting by Maria Cortes Gonzalez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Maria Cortes Gonzalez, El Paso Times | USA TODAY Network
