Benjamin Alire Sáenz is an award-winning American poet, novelist, and writer of children's books. He was born on August 16, 1954, at Old Picacho, New Mexico, and was the fourth of seven children. Raised on a small farm near Mesilla, New Mexico, he graduated from Las Cruces High School in 1972. That fall, he entered St. Thomas Seminary in Denver, Colorado, where he received a B.A. degree in Humanities and Philosophy in 1977. He furthered his studies in Theology at the University of Louvain in Leuven, Belgium, from 1977 to 1981. Sáenz was a priest for a few years in El Paso, Texas before leaving the order. In 1985, he returned to school to study English and Creative Writing at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he earned an M.A. degree in Creative Writing.