Bert Leston Taylor

Born in Goshen, Massachusetts, on November 13, 1866, he built an unusually varied writing career, working as a journalist while still young and later writing verse, humor, and books. He is remembered as an American columnist, humorist, poet, and author whose work mixed polish with playfulness.

He is best known for the Chicago Tribune column A Line o' Type or Two, which helped make him one of the most recognizable newspaper personalities of his day. Sources also describe him as part of the early Chicago literary renaissance, with a gift for light verse, satire, and the kind of clever newspaper writing that could feel both casual and finely made.

Taylor died on March 19, 1921. Though much of his fame came from daily journalism, his writing still gives a clear sense of a lively literary voice shaped by humor, timing, and affection for language.