Benjamin Diven was born in Illinois in 1954. For better or for worse he always aspired to be a writer. He is the middle child of five boys and now lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico with wife Elinor in a house previously occupied by three children: Matt, Ryan, and Callie. Elinor is a native of New Mexico having lived for many years in Kansas. She has four sisters.

Benjamin first became ill with bipolar disorder when he was a junior in high school and later developed the entire spectrum of the disorder when he was a twenty seven year old intern in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Along the way, between high school and internship, he was a hippie living in Phoenix, Arizona and an enthusiastic member of a loosely tied commune. After those colorful years he returned to New Mexico and became a Christian, cut his hair, and met his intelligent and beautiful wife. Benjamin has spent time as an archeologist; a cartoonist, a student at a few universities, a wanderer, a very poor novelist, and finally a medical student. Internship and bipolar disorder followed medical school.

The rest of the story is in the book!