Google today made a special Doodle to celebrate the 105th birth anniversary and to commemorate the life and legacy of multilingual Filipino author and educator Genoveva Matute, who was born in Sta. Cruz, Manila on this day, January 3, in 1915.
In the Google Doodle on the Home Page of the internet browser, Genoveva Matute could be seen sitting down with her back to a window and walls lined with bookshelves while writing on a piece of paper using a quill pen.
Matute obtained her PhD in 1964 at the University of Santo Tomas (UST), and began teaching at the elementary and high school level before becoming a university professor. In 1980, she retired as the Dean of the Filipino Department at Philippine Normal College (now Philippine Normal University or PNU).
Between 1951-1961 she won four Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for her short stories. Her most famous work is “Ang Kwento ni Mabuti” which was published in 1948 and received the first Palanca Award for Short Story in Filipino. She was also the first Filipino woman to win the prestigious literary award. She also won the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1992, the Republic Literary Awards from the National Commission for Culture and the Arts in 1995, and the St Scholastica College’s St Hildegarde of Bingen Award for women-pioneers of Philippine media in 2007.
Google Doodle states that, “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,”.
Genoveva Matute died in 2009 at the age of 94.
Google has honored many Filipina achievers, among them, food expert and banana ketchup creator Maria Orosa, pediatrician Fe Del Mundo, and rights advocate Josefa Llanes Escoda.
SEND cheers to Google and the family and followers of Genoveva Matute for marking a milestone today.
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