Benjamin Alire Sáenz, first Latino winner of PEN/Faulkner award, dies aged 71
Award-winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz has passed away at age 71, leaving behind a legacy of literature that explored LGBTQ+ identity and life on the US-Mexico border. He was the first Latino writer to receive the PEN/Faulkner award and was widely celebrated for his young adult fiction.
Why it matters
Sáenz's work provided essential representation for marginalized communities, and his death marks a significant loss for contemporary American literature.
Benjamin Alire Sáenz in this 2016 picture. Photograph: Larry D Moore Benjamin Alire Sáenz in this 2016 picture. Photograph: Larry D Moore Books Benjamin Alire Sáenz, first Latino winner of PEN/Faulkner award, dies aged 71 Celebrated writer, poet and novelist for young adults drew upon his sexuality and life on US southern border
Prefer the Guardian on Google Benjamin Alire Sáenz, an award-winning fiction writer and poet who drew upon his sexuality and his life on the southern border, has died at age 71. He was the first Latino to win the PEN/Faulkner prize.
Sáenz, who produced a story collection that won the PEN/Faulkner prize and a young adult novel that received acclaim from readers and reviewers and condemnation from censors, died on 28 July in El Paso, Texas , after a lengthy illness, according to a spokesperson for Simon & Schuster.
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