Authors, Poets & Novelists Posters & Prints, “Bo...-”,
for the literature, language arts and social studies classrooms and homeschoolers.

Giovanni Boccaccio
b. 1313; Florence, Italy
d. 12-21-1375; Certaldo

Vernacular poet and correspondent of Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, was an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including The Decameron and On Famous Women.

The Decameron, a collection of 100 novellas (deca=10), is an allegorical work and valued as an important historical document of life in fourteenth century Italy.

Decameron was banned for decades under the Comstock Law of 1873 (Federal Anti-Obscenity Act) banning the mailing of “lewd,” “indecent,” “filthy,” or “obscene” materials.

Giovanni Boccaccio quotes ~
• “People tend to believe the bad rather than the good.”
• “Heaven would indeed be heaven if lovers were there permitted as much enjoyment as they had experienced on earth.”
• “Human it is to have compassion on the unhappy.”

• Black Dealth poster

Louise Bogan
b. 8-11-1896; Livermore Falls, ME
d. 2-4-1970; NYC

Louise Bogan was the poetry critic for the New Yorker magazine for 38 years.

Louise Bogan quotes ~
• “Innocence of heart and violence of feeling are necessary in any kind of superior achievement: The arts cannot exist without them.”
• “The art of one period cannot be approached through the attitudes (emotional or intellectual) of another.”
• “Your work is carved out of agony as a statue is carved out of marble.”

• Poets Prose: Selected Writings of Louise Bogan

Edward W. Bok
b. 10-9-1863; Den Helder, The Netherlands
d. 1-9-1930; Lakes Wales, FL

Edward W. Bok was editor of the Ladies Home Journal for thirty years, making it into the world's most widely circulated magazine. He is credited with coining the term “living room”. His Pulitzer prize-winning autobiography, The Americanization of Edward William Bok, was just one of many books he published.

FYI ~ Bok, who started as a copy boy at age 13 and was made editor at age 26, is used as an example in Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Arna Bontemps
b. 10-13-1902; Alexandria, LA
d. 6-4-1973 (heart attack)

Arna Bontemps, a poet and teacher, was a part of the Harlem Renaissance. He became the librarian at Fisk University and established African-American literature and culture as a goal of scholarly study by preserving and archiving the works of African-Americans.

• Black Thunder: Gabriel's Revolt: Virginia, 1800

Jorge Luis Borges
b. 8-24-1899; Buenos Aires, Argentina
d. 6-14-1986; Geneva, Switzerland

“I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library.” – Poema de las Dones

The entire universe contained in a tiny ball; a library that contains every single book that could ever be written; a coin that drives people insane. These are just a few of the many strange and wonderful things you can find in the stories and poetry of Jose Luis Borges.

Borges was born to a well-off family in Buenos Aires, Argentina. A shy child with bad eyes, young “Georgie” read a lot and played mostly with his sister. As a young man, he studied in Europe. On a brief return visit to Argentina, he printed up 300 copies of his first book of poetry, Fercor de Buenos Aires, and gave them away for free. When he came back for good a year later, he found that those 300 copies had been passed from reader to reader, and he was now considered one of Argentina's finest young poets. Borges got a job as a librarian; he wrote his stories, poems, and essays in the basement of the library after he finished shelving books.

Borges was very politically active. But his political writings, which were in favor of democracy and against anti-Semitism, got him in trouble. When dictator Juan Peron came to power in Argentina in 1946, Borges was “promoted” to a new job: Inspector of Poultry and Rabbits. (He quit.) In 1955, Peron was ousted, and Borges – now blind – was named Director of the National Library of Argentina, a job he held for the next eighteen years. During that time, his writings became famous and were translated into many languages. In 1973, when Peron came back to power, Borges quit again and traveled the world as a lecturer. He died in 1986.

• more Latino Writers posters

FYI ~ Borges was an admired of writer Eden Phillpotts.

James Boswell
b. 10-29-1740; Edinburgh, Scotland
d. 5-19-1795; London

James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck, is best known for his biography of Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) and his name has passed into the English language as a term for a constant companion and observer (Boswell, Boswellian, Boswellism).

James Boswell quotes ~
• “I have discovered that we may be in some degree whatever character we choose. Besides, practice forms a man to anything.”
• “I am so fond of tea that I could write a whole dissertation on its virtues. It comforts and enlivens without the risks attendant on spirituous liquors. Gentle herb! Let the florid grape yield to thee. Thy soft influence is a more safe inspirer of social joy.”
• “A companion loves some agreeable qualities which a man may possess, but a friend loves the man himself.”
• “Being asked by a young nobleman, what was become of the gallantry and military spirit of the old English nobility, (Johnson) replied, "Why, my Lord, I'll tell you what is become of it; it is gone into the city to look for a fortune.”

• The Life of Samuel Johnson, James Boswell