Villanueva, Tino

Poet and writer Tino Villanueva won the American Book Award for Scene From the Movie Giant, which was inspired by his boyhood in San Marcos, Texas.

Poet and writer Tino Villanueva was born on December 11, 1941, in San Marcos, Texas to a family of migrant workers. Because of the demands of traveling to harvest crops, Villanueva was never able to attend school regularly. Despite the hardships, he managed to graduate from San Marcos High in 1960 and began working on an assembly-line at a local furniture factory. In 1963, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1963 and spent two years in the Panama Canal Zone. There he became immersed in Hispanic literature, reading the works of poets such as Rubén Darío and Cuban revolutionary José Martí. Upon returning to San Marcos, he took advantage of the GI Bill to study English and Spanish at Texas State University-San Marcos. He completed his B.A. in three years and then moved to Buffalo, New York to attend the State University of New York. He finished his M.A. in 1971 and moved to Boston University, where he began his doctoral studies.

In the early 1970s, Villanueva began publishing his poems and he became part of what has been called The Chicano Literary Renaissance. His work highlights the tension as well as the richness of living within two different cultures. He writes in both English and Spanish, often switching between the two languages. In 1972, he published his first collection of poems, Hay Otra Voz Poems (There Is Another Voice Poems) . That year he also wrote "Chicano Is an Act of Defiance."

After publishing Hay Otra Voz Poems, Villanueva began traveling widely, presenting readings throughout the United States and in Europe. He founded Imagine Publishers, Inc., and edited Imagine: International Chicano Poetry Journal . In 1980 he published a general anthology of Chicano literature, Chicanos: Antología Histórica y Literaria . A year later, Villanueva completed his doctorate in Spanish from Boston University and accepted a full-time faculty post at Wellesley College.

In 1994 Villanueva won the American Book Award for his book-length poem, Scene From the Movie GIANT . The poem was inspired by his boyhood in San Marcos, where he had first viewed the film at a segregated movie theatre. In 1995 Villauneva received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from Texas State University-San Marcos.

Villanueva has published several books of poetry since earning his Ph.D. He continues to teach, lecture, and research, and to develop his interest in painting. Villauneva currently serves as Preceptor in Spanish, Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures in the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston University.