获奖作家本杰明·阿莱雷·萨恩斯于2024年7月28日在德克萨斯州埃尔帕索去世，享年71岁[1]。他是首位赢得PEN/Faulkner奖的拉丁裔作家，于2013年因小说《肯塔基俱乐部的一切始终终于此》获得这一荣誉[1]。
萨恩斯以其关于性取向和南部边境生活经历的文学作品著称[1]。他2012年出版的小说《亚里士多德和但丁发现宇宙的秘密》因其LGBTQ+题材获得广泛关注，荣获斯通沃尔图书奖和兰姆达文学奖[1]。该作品曾在德克萨斯州Granbury学区被临时下架，并在俄罗斯和白俄罗斯遭禁[1]。林-曼努埃尔·米兰达为该作品的有声书配音，并参与了2023年的电影改编[1]。
萨恩斯曾为天主教神父，后来还俗并公开了自己的同性恋身份[1]。他在德克萨斯大学埃尔帕索分校任教数十年，并于2016年退休[1]。他的侄女在1990年拉斯克鲁塞斯保龄球馆枪击案中丧生，这一事件影响了他即将发表的新书《当世界幸福时》[1]。
Award-winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz died on July 28, 2024, in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 71 [1]. He was the first Latino writer to win the PEN/Faulkner Award, which he received in 2013 for his novel Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club [1].
Sáenz was a prolific novelist and poet whose work often explored themes connected to his sexual orientation and life on the southern border [1]. His 2012 novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe became particularly prominent, earning both the Stonewall Book Award and the Lambda Literary Award [1]. The book faced censorship challenges: it was temporarily removed from shelves in the Granbury school district in Texas and was banned in Russia and Belarus [1]. Lin-Manuel Miranda narrated the audiobook version and participated in a 2023 film adaptation of the work [1].
Before becoming a celebrated author, Sáenz served as a Catholic priest before leaving the priesthood and publicly coming out as gay [1]. He spent decades teaching at the University of Texas at El Paso, retiring in 2016 [1]. His forthcoming book, When the World Was Happy, was influenced by a tragic personal loss—the death of his niece in the 1990 Las Cruces bowling alley shooting [1].