Join us in The Dreamland main theater on Tuesday, April 11 at 6:00 PM for a special evening with Benjamin Alire Saenz. Novelist, poet, and writer of children's books, Sáenz was named one of the "Fifty Most Inspiring Authors in the World" by Poets & Writers magazine.

His latest collection of short stories, Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club, is the winner of the prestigious 2013 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction (Saenz was the first Latino ever to win this award), as well as a Lambda Literary Finalist for Gay Fiction.

Sáenz was born in 1954 in Old Picacho, a small farming village outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico, 42 miles north of the U.S. / Mexico border. He was the fourth of seven children and was brought up in a traditional Mexican-American Catholic family. He entered the seminary in 1972, a decision that was as much political as it was religious. After concluding his theological studies at the University of Louvain, he was ordained a Catholic priest. Three and a half years later, he left the priesthood.

At the age of 30, he entered the University of Texas at El Paso. In 1993, he returned to the border to teach in the bilingual MFA program at UTEP.

His 2012 novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe (Simon and Schuster) is an Honor Book for the Printz Award, and the winner of the Pura Belpré and the Stonewall Awards.

He is the author of numerous novels, books for children and young adults. His beloved young adult novel Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood, a staple in many high school curricula, was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize, a Top Ten Best Book for Young Adults, and winner of the Américas Award.

His bestselling bilingual children's books include: A Gift from Papá Diego, Grandma Fina and Her Wonderful Umbrellas and A Perfect Season for Dreaming.

Saenz's appearance on Nantucket is a co-presentation by The Dreamland, The Nantucket Book Foundation, and PEN/Faulkner's Writers in Schools program, This is a FREE author talk and reading for the Nantucket community. Get your free tickets by following this link or visiting www.nantucketdreamland.org.

Saenz's visit to Nantucket will continue with presentations in the schools on Wednesday, April 12, thanks to grants from the Community Foundation for Nantucket and The Nantucket Golf Club Foundation.