Book of short stories wins PEN/Faulkner prize

NEW YORK (AP) — A collection of short stories set along the border between Texas and Mexico has won the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

The directors of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation announced Tuesday that author Benjamin Alire Saenz will receive $15,000 for "Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club." ''Everything Begins" was published by Cincos Puntos Press, based in El Paso, Texas, where some of Saenz's stories take place.

Earlier this year, the American Library Association cited Saenz's "Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe" as the best young adult novel about the Latino cultural experience and the best book about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender experience.

Previous winners of the PEN/Faulkner award include Philip Roth, E.L. Doctorow and John Updike.