Tino Villanueva (born December 11, 1941, San Marcos, Texas) is an American

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

and writer. His early work was associated with th
Chicano literary renaissance
of the 1960s and 1970s, and Villanueva is considered to be a primary figure in that literary movement. More recently, Villanueva's work has treated themes from Greek mythology.

Life

In 1963, Villanueva was drafted into the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

, and spent two years in the Panama Canal Zone, where he became immersed in Hispanic literature, reading

Rubén Darío Félix Rubén García Sarmiento (January 18, 1867 – February 6, 1916), known as Rubén Darío ( , ), was a Nicaraguan poet who initiated the Spanish-language literary movement known as ''modernismo'' (modernism) that flourished at the end of ...

and

José Martí José Julián Martí Pérez (; January 28, 1853 – May 19, 1895) was a Cuban nationalist, poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the libera ...

. He graduated from

Texas State University Texas State University is a public research university in San Marcos, Texas. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has grown to the second largest university in the Greater Austin metropolitan area and the fifth largest university ...

, on the

G.I. Bill The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill, was a law that provided a range of benefits for some of the returning World War II veterans (commonly referred to as G.I.s). The original G.I. Bill expired in 1956, bu ...

, from the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo, commonly called the University at Buffalo (UB) and sometimes called SUNY Buffalo, is a public research university with campuses in Buffalo and Amherst, New York. The university was founded in 1846 ...

with an M.A. in 1971, and from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

with a doctorate in Spanish in 1981. He has taught at Wellesley College, and held visiting appointments at the University of Texas-Austin, the College of William and Mary, and Bowdoin College. Until his retirement in 2015, Villanueva served as senior lecturer in Spanish, Department of Romance Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences at

. Villanueva writes in both English and Spanish, often switching between the two languages. He founded Imagine Publishers, Inc., and edited ''Imagine: International Chicano Poetry Journal''. His papers are held at

Awards

* 1994

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

, for ''Scenes from the Movie GIANT'' (1993). * 1995 Distinguished Alumnus Award from Texas State University-San Marcos. *2015 Liberal Arts Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award, Texas State University-San Marcos.

Works

* (There Is Another Voice Poems) 1972 * * * * * * * * *''So Spoke Penelope''. Grolier Poetry Press. 2013. .

References

External links

"Spanish Poetry", ''Library of Congress'', 09/22/2006
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villanueva, Tino 1941 births Living people American male poets Texas State University alumni University at Buffalo alumni Boston University alumni Wellesley College faculty Boston University faculty American Book Award winners People from San Marcos, Texas