Rene Villanueva

Rene O. Villanueva (September 22, 1954 – December 5, 2007) was a Filipino playwright and author. He is famed for his deep involvement in theater and television and in children's literature, whether it be on television, in books or on stage.

He won the following awards: TOYP, New York Film and TV Festival, First Latin American Video and Film Festival (Columbia), Japan Prize (Preschool Category), Prix Juenesse Winner (Germany), TOYM, CCP, Gawad Collantes, Gantipalang Quezon, National Book Award, and Palanca.

His short play, Kumbersasyon (1980), won him the first of many Palanca Awards. His award-winning plays include May isang Sundalo (1981, first prize), Huling Gabi sa Maragondon (1983, first prize), Punla ng Dekada (1984, second prize), Ang Hepe (1986, third prize), Asawa (1987, second prize) and Awit ng Adarna (1987, second prize).

Rene O. Villanueva was born in the La Loma neighborhood of Quezon City in the Philippines to Francisco, Tesdaman, Eduardo and Vicenta Villanueva.

He graduated with a History degree in 1975 from the Lyceum of the Philippines University. He died on December 5, 2007 at the Philippine Heart Center due to sudden cardiac death. His last blog post on his personal blog is here

The UPAlumni.net wrote on Villanueva: “…Villanueva, a playwright, was among the leading figures in children's literature in the Philippines. He was in the hall of fame list of the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. He graduated with a degree in history at the Lyceum of the Philippines in 1975.” Villanueva was awarded the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining (Literature) in 2004 and the Gawad Chanselor sa UP in 2005.

http://www.webcitation.org/query?url=http://www.geocities.com/palanca_awards/index.html&date=2009-10-25+02:21:55 The Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature] (Unofficial website). Retrieved August 27, 2005

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