Benjamin Alire Sáenz is an acclaimed American poet, novelist, writer of children's books, painter, activist, and academic. He has a particularly strong reputation for his work Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe among others.

Born in Old Picacho, New Mexico on August 16, 1954, Sáenz was the fourth of seven children, raised on a small farm near Mesilla, New Mexico. He completed his high school education at Las Cruces High School in 1972 and subsequently entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Humanities and Philosophy in 1977. Sáenz also pursued Theological studies at the University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium from 1977 to 1981.

Following a brief period serving as a priest in El Paso, Texas, he left the priesthood and in 1985 returned to academia. Sáenz furthered his education in English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in Creative Writing.