MANILA, Philippines — Google is commemorating the life and legacy of writer and educator Genoveva Matute, the first recipient of the prestigious Carlos Palanca Award for short story in Filipino.
A special doodle was made to celebrate the 105th birthday of Matute, who was born in Santa Cruz, Manila on this day in 1915.
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“Her writings are lauded for their contributions to Tagalog literature and Filipino cultural identity,” Google said.
Also known as Aling Bebang, Matute is most famous for her work “Ang Kuwento ni Mabuti,” which won the first grand prize for Filipino short story category during the maiden staging of Palanca Awards in 1951.
She also won three Palanca Awards between 1952 and 1961.
Aside from being a writer, Matute was also an educator.
She studied at the University of Santo Tomas, where she obtained her PhD in 1964, and began teaching in elementary and high school levels before becoming a university professor.
Matute retired as the dean of the Filipino department at Philippine Normal College (now Philippine Normal University) in 1980.
“Throughout her academic career, she wrote a number of historically based short stories that were included in many textbooks for elementary and high school. Matute wrote in multiple languages: her mother Filipino tongue of Tagalog, her second language English and also in Filipino when it became the national language,” Google said.
She passed away in 2009.