Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986), best known as Jorge Luis Borges (pronounced /ˈhɔr.heɪ luˈiːs ˈbɔr.hɛz/; Spanish pronunciation: [ˈxorxe ˈlwis ˈborxes]), was an Argentine writer, essayist and poet born in Buenos Aires. In 1914, his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school and traveled to Spain. On his return to Argentina in 1921, Borges began publishing his poems and essays in Surrealist literary journals. He also worked as a librarian and public lecturer. In 1955, he was appointed director of the National Public Library (Biblioteca Nacional) and professor of Literature at the University of Buenos Aires. In 1961, he came to international attention when he received the first International Publishers' Prize, the Prix Formentor. His work was translated and published widely in the United States and in Europe. Borges himself was fluent in several languages. He died in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1986.

J. M. Coetzee said of Borges: "He, more than anyone, renovated the language of fiction and thus opened the way to a remarkable generation of Spanish American novelists."^[1]