Julio Herrera y Reissig (January 9, 1875 – March 18, 1910) was a Uruguayan poet, playwright and essayist, who began his career during the late Romanticist period and later became an early proponent of Modernism.

Julio Herrera y Reissig was born in Montevideo into a wealthy patrician family with connections to the social and cultural scene.

Nor was he able to travel any great distance, and apart from a visit to Buenos Aires, he remained confined to Montevideo and the Uruguayan interior, including Castillo Piriá, near Piriápolis, where a plaque was unveiled in 1957 commemorating his residence there.

There, he underwent a transformation from Romanticist to avant-garde Modernist and Surrealist, earning himself posthumous recognition as a major figure in the development of 20th-century Latin American poetry, alongside Leopoldo Lugones, Ricardo Jaimes Freyre, and Salvador Díaz Mirón.

The Uruguayan writer Ángel Rama marvelled at his achievement: In just under ten years, despite wandering in the deafening and superficial bazaar of art nouveau, he created a poetry of subtle, modern sensibility, of impeccable linguistic precision.Herrera y Reissig wrote fiction, political essays, and many other works, but his reputation rests on his poetry.