Bernardo Guimarães

Born in Ouro Preto in 1825, Bernardo Guimarães was a Brazilian poet, novelist, dramatist, journalist, magistrate, and teacher. He became one of the notable writers of Brazilian Romanticism, while also being praised for pushing fiction toward a more realistic picture of regional life.

He is especially known for A Escrava Isaura and O Seminarista. Reference works describe him as a popular writer in his own time, and note that his fiction helped mark a transition toward greater realism in Brazilian literature. His stories often drew on the settings, customs, and social conflicts of Minas Gerais and the Brazilian interior.

Guimarães died in Ouro Preto in 1884. His work has lasted because it combines emotional storytelling with a vivid sense of place, and because A Escrava Isaura in particular became closely associated with antislavery feeling in Brazil.