About Severo

SEVERO PEREZ, an award-winning filmmaker, playwright, and writer, grew up in working-class Westside San Antonio and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. For over forty-five years he produced programing for network and cable television, PBS and commercial clients. His feature film adaptation of Tomas Rivera’s novel . . . and the earth did not swallow him (1994) won eleven international awards, including five for Best Picture. His first novel, Willa Brown & the Challengers (2012), is historical fiction based on the real-life African American aviation pioneer Willa Beatrice Brown. Odd Birds , his second novel, was named by Kirkus Reviews as among the top 20 of Indie fiction for 2019. His latest book, Filmmaker’s Journey, chronicles his 45 year career as an independent artist working in Hollywood.

Severo has been featured in numerous publications and received many awards. Among them, in 2018 he was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters and the Wittliff Collections has acquired his film and literary archives.

For a more complete list and access to the full archives of Severo's work, please visit the Wittliff Collection.

Latest News

Wittliff Collections adds Filmmaker’s Journey to Literary Series

Filmmaker’s Journey is a new addition to the Wittliff Collections Literary Series, published by Texas A&M University Press, in April 2024. This memoir is a deeply personal account of Severo…
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Rudy Perez, a Choreographer Who Touched Lives Beyond the Stage, Dies at 91

Rudy Perez’s passing on September 29, 2023, marked an end of a big piece of history embodied in one person. On his own from the age of seventeen, by grit…
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“…and the Earth Did Not Swallow Him” Receives National Film Registry Nomination: A Personal Note

I am humbled and elated to share that “…and the Earth Did Not Swallow Him” has been nominated for the Library of Congress National Film Registry by Congressman Joaquin Castro,…
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