Benjamin Alire Sáenz, whose novels for adults and young readers explored Mexican American and gay identities, has died at 71, El Paso Matters reports.

Sáenz, a New Mexico native, was educated at the St. Thomas Seminary in Denver and the University of Louvain in Belgium, later serving as a priest in El Paso, Texas, before leaving his order. He subsequently studied at the University of Texas at El Paso, the University of Iowa, and Stanford University.

He made his publishing debut in 1991 with the poetry collection Calendar of Dust, and four years later he released his first novel, Carry Me Like Water. His other novels for adults include The House of Forgetting, In Perfect Light, and Names on a Map.

In 2004, he published his first young adult novel, Sammy and Juliana in Hollywood, and followed that up with several more, including Last Night I Sang to the Monster, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life, and Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World.

In 2008, Sáenz, then 54, came out as gay, and some of the books published after that explored sexuality, including Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which won the Stonewall Book Award and the Pura Belpré Medal.

In a 2021 interview with Kirkus, Sáenz gave advice on how to write dialogue. “Listen to the way you speak. Listen to the way those around you speak. Listen to the way people sound when they’re sad or broken. Listen to the rhythms of the people who are happy.…And understand the way you judge other people. Judging other people will never make you a good listener and will prevent you from seeing their importance. There is no such thing as an unimportant person.”

Sáenz’s admirers paid tribute to him on social media. On the platform X, Los Angeles Times assistant managing editor Iliana Limón Romero posted, “So sad to hear Ben Sáenz has died. His literary voice sounds like home and was so inspiring. He was a friend to my parents and to many friends lucky enough to count him as a creative writing mentor. To a life well lived and a legacy too vast to measure.”

And author Andrew Smith posted, “Benjamin Alire Sáenz was a true artist. He did it all,--painting, poetry, fiction, essays--and had a wicked light in his smiling eyes. He was always helpful, kind, and encouraging to me. And, a great dog dad. If I had a cigarette, I’d smoke one for him. Goodbye, my friend.”

Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.