Award-winning borderland author and poet Benjamin Alire Saenz died at 71 on July 28 in El Paso after a long illness.
A literary giant, Sáenz was proud of his humble roots. He was born in a small farming community near Las Cruces in 1954, one of seven children.
For three years he served as a Catholic priest and later a professor who taught creative writing at the University of Texas at El Paso until his retirement in 2016. He created and was an original host of KTEP's program Words on a Wire.
Always a prolific writer, he loved the desert and believed in the bittersweet beauty of the border. His acclaimed collection of short stories "Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club" is set at the legendary Ciudad Juarez bar. The book won the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 2013.
Sáenz also wrote children’s books including "The Dog who loved Tortillas." He was especially beloved for his young adult fiction and heard from many young fans who saw themselves in "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe." The best-selling book set in El Paso became a feature film in 2023.
Sáenz final book “When the World was Happy” is set for release September 29th.
It’s fiction, a novel born of the heartbreak of losing a loved one to gun violence. It’s in memory of his 13-year-old niece Amy and dedicated to her mother Gloria. Sáenz ends his author’s note with these words, “writing this book is how I love.”
To ensure others carry on that legacy, the El Paso Community Foundation has created Benjamin Alire Saenz Literary Fund to support writers in the borderland region.
You can hear my appreciation of not only of Sáenz the
world-renowned author but my close friend Ben by clicking on the listen button.
