Benjamin Alire Sáenz

Benjamin Alire Sáenz (1954–2026) was an American poet and prose writer for adults and teens. Born in Old Picacho, New Mexico, he studied at St. Thomas Seminary, the University of Louvain, and the University of Texas at El Paso, and served briefly as a Catholic priest before leaving the order.

Sáenz received a Wallace Stegner Fellowship and taught for decades in UTEP's bilingual MFA program. His writing ranged across poetry, adult fiction, children's books, and young-adult novels; the Texas Institute of Letters described a catalog of more than twenty-five books when it named him its Lon Tinkle lifetime-achievement honoree.

Everything Begins & Ends at the Kentucky Club won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe won the 2013 Pura Belpré Author Award and was adapted as a feature film released in 2023. Sáenz also co-hosted KTEP's Words on a Wire.