Benjamin Alire Sáenz, Award-Winning Latino Author, Dies at 71

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 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 2...

By Abené Clayton