Ivan Gundulić, Croatian poet and playwright (died 1638)

Dživo Franov Gundulić, better known today as Ivan Gundulić, was the most prominent Baroque poet from the Republic of Ragusa. He is regarded as the Croatian national poet. His work embodies central characteristics of Roman Catholic Counter-Reformation: religious fervor, insistence on "vanity of this world" and zeal in opposition to "infidels". Gundulić's major works—the epic poem Osman, the pastoral play Dubravka, and the religious poem Tears of the Prodigal Son —are examples of Baroque stylistic richness and, frequently, rhetorical excess.

January 8 is the eighth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 357 days remain until the end of the year.