Overview
- Simon & Schuster confirmed that Sáenz died after a prolonged illness on Tuesday, July 28, 2026.
- He was best known for Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, a bestselling young‑adult novel that won major honors, was translated into 25 languages, and was adapted into a 2023 film.
- Two books scheduled for publication on September 29, 2026 — the YA novel When the World Was Happy and the children’s title Grandma Fina’s Wonderful Umbrella illustrated by Raúl the Third — will appear posthumously, with the YA novel already earning advance starred reviews.
- Sáenz served as a Catholic priest before leaving the priesthood in 1985, later earned a master’s in creative writing, taught and chaired the creative writing program at the University of Texas at El Paso, and retired in 2016.
- His work combined borderlands detail, candid accounts of abuse and recovery, and queer themes; he won the 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award as the first Latino recipient and received a 2020 Texas Institute of Letters Lifetime Achievement Award, a record that broadened representation in U.S. letters and influenced a generation of writers and readers.