Is benjamin alire saenz gay
Q & A with Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Benjamin Alire Sáenz is not just a YA author, but a poet, painter, and long-time teacher. Here, the author of the prize-winning Aristotle and Dante Uncover the Secrets of the Universe (), spoke (via email, because he’s on a movie set) with PW about why writing the long-awaited sequel was so difficult and so necessary, the importance of friends—and teachers, and how “it was a blessing not to have to compete by the rules of heterosexuals” when deciding what caring of man he wanted to be.
Fans of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe have been waiting a prolonged time for the sequel. Did you always plan to write one? What was hard about it and what felt familiar about being back with these characters?
I didn’t plan to document a sequel. But I realized, after some time, that I’d left too many things unsaid in Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. I couldn’t quite forgive myself for not having included the AIDS pandemic. It was pers
Benjamín Alire Sáenz Archive Comes To The Wittliff
Benjamin Alire Sáenz
The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University have acquired the complete archive of internationally acclaimed writer Benjamín Alire Sáenz. A major literary voice from the US-Mexico borderlands, Sáenz is the author of nearly 30 books and his works have been published in 25 languages worldwide.
Sáenz, who lives and works in El Paso, has said, “I hope that my readers gain some insight into the human condition—the human condition as it is lived out on the border.” Sáenz has spoken out throughout his career for the rights of Latinos, immigrants, women and the LGBTQ+ community.
“Ben Sáenz is an essential and uniquely inspiring writer,” says Wittliff Literary Curator Steven Davis. “His beautifully-written books nurture wonder and compassion even as his voice burns for justice. He is one of the superb ones.”
Wittliff Collections Director David L. Coleman adds, “Sáenz is one of the most significant writers to come from Texas. We are profoundly honored and grateful to be chosen as the home for his
Best summary PDF, themes, and quotes. More books than SparkNotes.
Sáenz was born the fourth of seven children in New Mexico. A graduate of Las Cruces Tall School, he received his B.A. in Humanities and Philosophy from St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado before heading to Belgium to study theology at the University of Louvain. After spending a few years as a priest in El Paso, he went back to school, first at the University of Texas, El Paso in their MA Creative Writing program, then briefly at the University of Iowa before being awarded a Wallace E. Stegner Fellowship from Stanford University. During his time at Stanford, he completed his first book of poems, Calendar of Dust, entering the Ph.D. program there. Before receiving his doctorate, he moved back to El Paso and began teaching in the bilingual MFA program at the University of Texas, El Paso.
Sáenz has been the recipient of much critical acclaim. In addition to the general critical attention his verb generated, Sáenz has received the American Book Award (in , for his book Calendar of Dust), the Lannan Poetry F
Lone Star Listens: Benjamin Alire Sáenz on Books, Beginnings, and the Border
Lone Star Literary Life: Ben, I grasp that you were raised on a small farm proximate Mesilla, New Mexico, the fourth of seven children. How would you detail those days?
Benjamin Alire Sáenz: Growing up on that miniature farm really shaped me as a human being. They were some of the most adj formative years of my life. “Never forget where you come from.” I so get that. The small family farm and the memory of it that I haul inside me, has always been the ground zero of how I specify myself.
To say we were poor is something of an understatement. We had no indoor plumbing, an outhouse, two bedrooms, a kitchen, and a porch. There was a lot of drama. My father was a serious alcoholic who would sometimes disappear into a stupor (and all of my uncles on both sides of the family were alcoholics as well). My mother worried and worked and worked and worked. She also loved and loved and loved. But there were also many beautiful things in that world. There were grandmothers who adored me and whom I adored