About Tino Villanueva

TINO VILLANUEVA is the author of six books of poetry, among them “Shaking Off the Dark” (1984); “Crónica de mis años peores” (1987) / “Chronicle of My Worst Years” (1994); “Scene from the Movie GIANT” (1993), which won a 1994 American Book Award; and “Primera causa / First Cause” (1999), a chapbook on memory and writing. Villanueva has been anthologized in “An Ear to the Ground: An Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry” (1989), “Poetas sin fronteras” (2000), and in “The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature” (2011). He has taught creative writing at the University of Texas-Austin, The College of William and Mary, and Bowdoin College. His art work has appeared on the covers and pages of national and international journals, such as Nexos, Green Mountains Review, TriQuarterly, Parnassus, and MELUS. He teaches in the Department of Romance Studies at Boston University.  In this June 2021 Edition of IberoAztlan, read Villanueva’s poems from “Scene from the Movie GIANT,” but do watch the clip from fight scene which we have included herein. Dr. Villanueva has graciously permitted us to publish these poems. The poems were originally published by Curbstone Press, Willimantic, CT, with a first edition published in 1963 and subsequent printings in 1996, 2004 and 2006. Read Dr. Jaime Armin Mejia’s short essay as an introduction to Dr. Villanueva and his work. Dr. Armin Mejia was commentator at the April 6, 2021 Trinity University, San Antonio, Texas Fourth Annual Arturo Madrid Symposium in Latin@ Art, on April 6, 2021. A recording of Dr. Villanueva’s entire lecture at the symposium has been been included in this edition thanks to the generosity of Trinity University, the supporters of and contributors to the lecture series and Dr. Norma Elia Cantu, Dr. Arturo Madrid and Dr. Antonia Castaneda, who helped organized the symposium. You might also find interesting Chuy Ramirez’ attempt at a poetry review of the poems from “Scene from the Movie GIANT”.