Benjamin Alire Saenz will talk on “How Mexico Haunts My Imagination” at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 30, in Ledbetter Hall Room A in the Donaghey Student Center. His presentation is hosted by UALR’s William G. Cooper Jr. Honors Program in English.

The lecture by Saenz, a distinguished Mexican American fiction writer, poet, and author of children’s books, is one of two Cooper programs by creative writers this fall. Both events are free and open to the public with a reception and book signing following the presentations.

Saenz’s talk is sponsored by the Cooper Program, Hola! Arkansas, and UALR Alumnus Leo Monterrey as part of Arkansas Mexico 2010 celebrations.

Saenz, who teaches at the University of Texas at El Paso, was honored with an American Book Award in 1991 for his first collection of poetry, “Calendar of Dust.” His most recent book of poems, “The Book of What Remains,” was published this year. His first book of fiction was a collection of short stories, “Flowers for the Broken,” which came out in 1992.

His critically acclaimed first novel, “Carry Me Like Water,” published in 1995, won a Southwest Book Award and a Latino Literary Award for Best Novel. He published his second novel, “The House of Forgetting,” two years later and it has been translated into German and French.

Saenz has also published four bilingual children’s books, including “Sammy & Juliana in Hollywood.” It was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and won the Americas Book Award, The Paterson Prize, and the J Hunt Award for 2005.

The book also was named one of the Top 10 Young Adult Novels by the American Library Association and was also named one of the top books of the year by the Center for Children’s Books, The New York Public Library, and the Miami Herald. Saenz has publish several award-winning young adult novels since then.