Livius Andronicus

Ancient Rome (b. Tarentum)

Where in Bolaño: The Savage Detectives III, "The Deserts of Sonora" — García Madero's diary, among the poets and verse-terms he recites on the run
Why read them: Rome's first poet (c. 284–c. 204 BC), a Greek slave from Tarentum who Latinized the Odyssey in Saturnian verse and staged the first scripted Latin play in 240 BC; some forty lines survive of the man who invented a literature — a founder who exists mainly as rumor and citation, which is a very Bolañesque way to exist.
Start with: Odusia (c. 240 BC, surviving fragments), author's page on Open Library

Remains of Old Latin, vol. II (1936, Warmington's parallel text), author's page on Open Library