Benjamin Alire Sáenz – författare

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PRODUCED BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDAAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is the beloved cult classic about family, friendship and first love, from award-winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This lyrical novel will enrapture readers of John Green, Love, Simon and Call Me by Your Name. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison.Dante is a know-it-all who has a unique perspective on life.When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they develop a special friendship – the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about the universe, themselves and the kind of people they want to be.This incredibly moving and powerful Printz Honor Book follows two teen boys learning to open themselves up to love, despite the world being against them.'A tender, honest exploration of identity' – Publishers Weekly

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE IS SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PRODUCED BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDAThe highly anticipated sequel to the beloved cult classic about family, friendship and first love, from award-winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This lyrical novel will enrapture readers of Love, Simon, John Green and Call me by your Name. A love story like no other.In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, two boys fell in love. Now they must discover what it means to stay in love and build a relationship in a world that seems to challenge their very existence.Ari has spent all of high school hiding who he really is, staying silent and invisible. He expected his senior year to be the same. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can’t go back. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies and making his voice heard. And, always, there is Dante – dreamy, witty Dante – who can get on Ari’s nerves and fill him with desire all at once.The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn’t understand them. But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he’ll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own.

"A book of great lyrical power, Names on a Map is a heartbreaking mirror for our own time, about an American family torn apart by an unjust war. In Ben Saenz'' dexterous, tender hands, this novel is a salve upon the wounds of both then and now." —Ruben Martinez, award winning author of Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant TrailA haunting novel from award-winning author and poet Benjamin Alire Saenz, about a family of Hispanic immigrants handling the psychological effects of a war they don''t feel is theirs to fightIn 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, the Espejo family of El Paso, Texas, is just like thousands of other American families coping with a war they feel does not concern them. When Gustavo, the eldest son—the "bad boy" of the family—is told to report for basic training, his ideology and sense of patriotism is put to the test.Opting to flee to Mexico and avoid the draft, Gustavo soon realizes he is no more culturally connected to his ancestral homeland than he is to the America that called him to war. Poignant and insightful, Names on a Map explores with complex detail the harsh nature of immigrant life in the United States—and the emotional tug-of-war experienced by all those with allegiance to more than one country.

"Ben Saenz''s vivid imagination captures all that is beautiful, agonizing and redemptive in the crossings we make through borders of geography and culture. But it is in the interior journeys of the psyche and the soul that we must find salvation; Saenz''s brilliant prose penetrates to that core and he finds and exposes that truth. A reader can ask for no more than this: to be spellbound by a story, and to come to the last page with a sense of having been being changed and allowed to carry something of it away." —Abraham Verghese, author of My Own CountryFrom award-winning poet Benjamin Alire Sáenz comes a haunting novel depicting the cruelties of cultural displacement and the resilience of those who are left in its aftermath.In Perfect Light is the story of two strong-willed people who are forever altered by a single tragedy. After Andés Segovia''s parents are killed in a car accident when he is still a young boy, his older brother decides to steal the family away to Juárez, Mexico. That decision, made with the best intentions, sets into motion the unraveling of an American family.Years later, his family destroyed, Andés is left to make sense of the chaos—but he is ill-equipped to make sense of his life. He begins a dark journey toward self-destruction, his talent and brilliance brought down by the weight of a burden too frightening and maddening to bear alone. The manifestation of this frustration is a singular rage that finds an outlet in a dark and seedy El Paso bar—leading him improbably to Grace Delgado.Recently confronted with her own sense of isolation and mortality, Grace is an unlikely angel, a therapist who agrees to treat Andés after he is arrested in the United States. The two are suspicious of each other, yet they slowly arrive at a tentative working relationship that allows each of them to examine his and her own fragile and damaged past. With the urgent, unflinching vision of a true storyteller and the precise, arresting language of a poet, Sáenz''s In Perfect Light bears witness to the cruelty of circumstance and, more than offering escape, the novel offers the possibility of salvation.

"Sentimental and ferocious, upsetting and tender, firmly magic-realist yet utterly modern. . . Sáenz is a writer with greatness in him." —San Diego Union TribuneWith Carry Me Like Water, Benjamin Alire Sáenz unfolds a beautiful story about hope and forgiveness, unexpected reunions, an expanded definition of family, and, ultimately, what happens when the disparate worlds of pain and privilege collide.Diego, a deaf-mute, is barely surviving on the border in El Paso, Texas. Diego''s sister, Helen, who lives with her husband in the posh suburbs of San Francisco, long ago abandoned both her brother and her El Paso roots. Helen''s best friend, Lizzie, a nurse in an AIDS ward, begins to uncover her own buried past after a mystical encounter with a patient.This immensely moving novel confronts divisions of race, gender, and class, fusing together the stories of people who come to recognize one another from former lives they didn''t know existed— or that they tried to forget.

From the powerhouse duo of bestselling Pura Belpré Award-winners Benjamin Alire Sáenz and Raúl the Third comes a delightful tale of friendship, loyalty, and staying true to oneself.Grandma Fina loves her trusty yellow umbrella. Yes, it may be worn and torn, but it protects her from the sun and keeps her company on her daily walks. Her friends and loved ones, however, are secretly convinced her umbrella needs replacing. But Grandma Fina knows better. And where others see a problem, she sees an opportunity—and she uses their good intentions to solve a true need.Detail-packed, eye-popping art from three-time Pura Belpré Award–winning illustrator Raúl the Third (the World of ¡Vamos!) and a delightful tale by renown #1 New York Times bestselling author Benjamin Alire Sáenz (Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe) combine in a cheerful celebration of creativity, community, and the lasting value of good friends.

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PRODUCED BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDAAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is the beloved cult classic about family, friendship and first love, from award-winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This lyrical novel will enrapture readers of John Green, Love, Simon and Call Me by Your Name. Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison.Dante is a know-it-all who has a unique perspective on life. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they develop a special friendship – the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about the universe, themselves and the kind of people they want to be.This incredibly moving and powerful Printz Honor Book follows two teen boys learning to open themselves up to love, despite the world being against them. 'A tender, honest exploration of identity' – Publishers Weekly

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PRODUCED BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDAAristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is the beloved cult classic about family, friendship and first love, from award-winning author Benjamin Alire Senz. Thislyrical novel will enrapture readers of John Green, Love, SimonandCall Me by Your Name.Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison.Dante is a know-it-all who has a unique perspective on life. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they develop a special friendship the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about the universe, themselves and the kind of people they want to be.This incredibly moving and powerful Printz Honor Bookfollows two teen boys learning to open themselves up to love, despite the world being against them.A tender, honest exploration of identity Publishers Weekly

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE IS SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PRODUCED BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDAThe highly anticipated sequel to the beloved cult classic about family, friendship and first love, from award-winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz. This lyrical novel will enrapture readers of John Green, Love, Simon and Call me by your Name. A love story like no other. In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, two boys fell in love. Now they must discover what it means to stay in love and build a relationship in a world that seems to challenge their very existence.Ari has spent all of high school hiding who he really is, staying silent and invisible. He expected his senior year to be the same. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can’t go back. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies and making his voice heard. And, always, there is Dante – dreamy, witty Dante – who can get on Ari’s nerves and fill him with desire all at once. The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn’t understand them. But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he’ll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own.

ARISTOTLE AND DANTE DISCOVER THE SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE IS SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE PRODUCED BY LIN-MANUEL MIRANDAThe highly anticipated sequel to the beloved cult classic about family, friendship and first love, from award-winning author Benjamin Alire Senz. Thislyrical novel will enrapture readers of John Green,Love, SimonandCall me by your Name.A love story like no other. In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, two boys fell in love. Now they must discover what it means to stay in love and build a relationship in a world that seems to challenge their very existence.Ari has spent all of high school hiding who he really is, staying silent and invisible. He expected his senior year to be the same. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can''t go back. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies and making his voice heard. And, always, there is Dante dreamy, witty Dante who can get on Ari''s nerves and fill him with desire all at once. The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn''t understand them. But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he''ll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own. GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATED AUDIOBOOK NARRATED BY SUPERSTAR LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA!

Two starred reviews!A “heartrending yet beautiful” (School Library Journal, starred review) tale of twins and their group of friends who are forced to navigate life, relationships, and grief after their world is turned upside down from New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Benjamin Alire Sáenz.

"I mean, it''s not as if I want a father. I have a father. It''s just that I don''t know who he is or where he is. But I have one." Ramiro Lopez and Jake Upthegrove don''t appear to have much in common. Ram lives in the Mexican-American working-class barrio of El Paso called "Dizzy Land." His brother is sinking into a world of drugs, wreaking havoc in their household. Jake is a rich West Side white boy who has developed a problem managing his anger. An only child, he is a misfit in his mother''s shallow and materialistic world. But Ram and Jake do have one thing in common: They are lost boys who have never met their fathers. This sad fact has left both of them undeniably scarred and obsessed with the men who abandoned them. As Jake and Ram overcome their suspicions of each other, they begin to move away from their loner existences and realize that they are capable of reaching out beyond their wounds and the neighborhoods that they grew up in. Their friendship becomes a healing in a world of hurt. San Antonio Express-News wrote, "Benjamin Alire Sáenz exquisitely captures the mood and voice of a community, a culture, and a generation"; that is proven again in this beautifully crafted novel.

Now a major motion picture starring Max Pelayo, Reese Gonzales, and Eva Longoria! A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) The award-winning, internationally renowned book that is a '';tender, honest exploration of identity'' (Publishers Weekly) and distills lyrical truths about family and friendship through the unlikely connection between two teens.Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendshipthe kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

This Printz Honor Book is a "tender, honest exploration of identity" (Publishers Weekly) that distils lyrical truths about family and friendship.

Now a major motion picture starring Max Pelayo, Reese Gonzales, and Eva Longoria! A Time Best YA Book of All Time (2021) This Printz Honor Book is a “tender, honest exploration of identity” (Publishers Weekly) that distills lyrical truths about family and friendship.Aristotle is an angry teen with a brother in prison. Dante is a know-it-all who has an unusual way of looking at the world. When the two meet at the swimming pool, they seem to have nothing in common. But as the loners start spending time together, they discover that they share a special friendship—the kind that changes lives and lasts a lifetime. And it is through this friendship that Ari and Dante will learn the most important truths about themselves and the kind of people they want to be.

A warmly humane look at universal questions of belonging, infused with humour, from the bestselling author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.Sal used to know his place with his adoptive gay father, their loving Mexican American family, and his best friend, Samantha. But it’s senior year, and suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and realizing he no longer knows himself. If Sal’s not who he thought he was, who is he? 'Friendships, family, grief, joy, rage, faith, doubt, poetry, and love – this complex and sensitive book has room for every aspect of growing up!' Margarita Engle, author of The Surrender Tree ‘… another stellar, gentle look into the emotional lives of teens on the cusp of adulthood’ Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe:‘… a smart, intelligent, engaging coming-of-age story and a deep, thoughtful exploration of identity and sexuality’ The Book Smugglers‘Meticulous pacing and finely nuanced characters underpin the author's gift for affecting prose that illuminates the struggles within relationships’ Kirkus Reviews, starred review

A warmly humane look at universal questions of belonging, infused with humour, from the bestselling author of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe.Sal used to know his place with his adoptive gay father, their loving Mexican American family, and his best friend, Samantha. But it’s senior year, and suddenly Sal is throwing punches, questioning everything, and realizing he no longer knows himself. If Sal’s not who he thought he was, who is he?  'Friendships, family, grief, joy, rage, faith, doubt, poetry, and love – this complex and sensitive book has room for every aspect of growing up!' Margarita Engle, author of The Surrender Tree  ‘… another stellar, gentle look into the emotional lives of teens on the cusp of adulthood’ Kirkus ReviewsPraise for Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe: ‘… a smart, intelligent, engaging coming-of-age story and a deep, thoughtful exploration of identity and sexuality’ The Book Smugglers ‘Meticulous pacing and finely nuanced characters underpin the author's gift for affecting prose that illuminates the struggles within relationships’ Kirkus Reviews, starred review

A #1 New York Times bestseller Four starred reviews! “Messily human and sincerely insightful.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The highly anticipated sequel to the critically acclaimed, multiple award-winning novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe is an “emotional roller coaster” (School Library Journal, starred review) sure to captivate fans of Adam Silvera and Mary H.K. Choi.In Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, two boys in a border town fell in love. Now, they must discover what it means to stay in love and build a relationship in a world that seems to challenge their very existence. Ari has spent all of high school burying who he really is, staying silent and invisible. He expected his senior year to be the same. But something in him cracked open when he fell in love with Dante, and he can’t go back. Suddenly he finds himself reaching out to new friends, standing up to bullies of all kinds, and making his voice heard. And, always, there is Dante, dreamy, witty Dante, who can get on Ari’s nerves and fill him with desire all at once. The boys are determined to forge a path for themselves in a world that doesn’t understand them. But when Ari is faced with a shocking loss, he’ll have to fight like never before to create a life that is truthfully, joyfully his own.