Main article: Russian novelists
- Chinghiz Aitmatov, Kyrgyz and Russian writer, author of Jamilya
- Sergei Aksakov, famous for his semi-autobigraphical writings, including A Family Chronicle
- Vasily Aksyonov, author of the Moscow saga Generations of Winter
- Boris Akunin, famous for his detective fiction, author of The Diamond Chariot
- Sholem Aleichem, important Russian Jewish writer, the famous musical Fiddler on the Roof was based on Aleichem's story Tevye the Dairyman
- Leonid Andreyev, author of The Seven Who Were Hanged
- Vladimir Arsenyev, explorer and travelogue writer, author of Dersu Uzala, which inspired the Oscar winning Soviet-Japanese movie
- Mikhail Artsybashev, naturalist writer, author of Sanin
- Isaac Babel, well-known Russian Jewish writer, author of The Odessa Tales
- Pavel Bazhov, the author of a fairy-tale stories collection The Malachite Casket, depicting the life on the Urals
- Andrei Bely, author of the novel Petersburg, poet
- Alexander Belyayev, major science fiction writer, author of Amphibian Man and Ariel
- Valery Bryusov, important symbolist writer, author of the novel The Fiery Angel
- Mikhail Bulgakov, author of The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century
- Faddey Bulgarin, conservative journalist and author of the first science fiction and adventure novels in Russian
- Kir Bulychev, author of the science fiction anthology Half a Life
- Ivan Bunin, short story writer and poet, first Russian to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature
- Vasil Bykov, known for his works about World War II
- Anton Chekhov, famous for his short stories and plays; author of The Lady with the Dog, The Black Monk
- Nikolai Chernyshevsky, influential revolutionary writer, author of What Is to Be Done?
- Fyodor Dostoyevsky, author of Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, The Possessed, The Brothers Karamazov
- Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer who emigrated to the USA, author of the novel Affiliate
- Ivan Yefremov, science fiction writer, known for his novel Andromeda
- Alexander Fadeyev, one of the co-founders of the Union of Soviet Writers and its chairman from 1946 to 1954
- Arkady Gaidar, children's writer, author of Timur and his Squad, which provided the idea for the Timurite movement
- Dmitry Glukhovsky, author of the post-apocalyptic novel Metro 2033
- Nikolai Gogol, considered the "father" of Russian realism, author of The Overcoat, The Nose, Dead Souls
- Ivan Goncharov, author of Oblomov
- Maxim Gorky, founder of socialist realism, author of Twenty-six Men and a Girl
- Alexandr Grin, author of novels and stories set in the fantasy world of Grinlandia
- Vasily Grossman, author of Life and Fate, described by Le Monde as "the greatest Russian novel of the twentieth century"
- Ilya Ilf extremely popular Soviet author of the 1920s and 1930s, who worked in collaboration with Yevgeni Petrov, see Ilf and Petrov
- Fazil Iskander, Abkhaz writer, renowned for his vivid descriptions of Caucasian life
- Nikolai Karamzin, prominent sentimentalist writer and major historian, author of Poor Liza
- Valentin Katayev, author of the industrial novel Time, Forward!
- Veniamin Kaverin, author of the social and adventure novel The Two Captains
- Daniil Kharms, Soviet surrealist and absurdist writer
- Vladimir Korolenko, human rights activist, author of The Blind Musician
- Aleksandr Kuprin, writer and adventurer, author of The Duel
- Lazar Lagin, soviet satirist and children's writer, best known for his novel Old Khottabych
- Leonid Leonov, Soviet novelist, he has been called a 20th-century Dostoyevsky for the deep psychological torment of his prose
- Mikhail Lermontov, author of A Hero of our Time, poet
- Nikolai Leskov, author of Lefty and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk
- Eduard Limonov, writer and political dissident, leader of the National Bolshevik Party
- Sergey Lukyanenko, most popular contemporary Russian sci-fi writer, author of the Night Watch
- Dmitry Merezhkovsky, famous Russian historical novelist
- Vladimir Nabokov, author of Lolita, which was ranked at #4 on the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels
- Nikolay Nosov, children's writer, author of the popular Neznaika series
- Vladimir Obruchev, geologist and explorer, author of the science fiction and travel novels Plutonia and Sannikov Land
- Yuri Olesha, author of the innovative novel Envy
- Nikolai Ostrovsky, socialist realist writer, best known for his novel How the Steel Was Tempered
- Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago, poet and translator, Nobel Prize winner (was forced to decline the prize)
- Konstantin Paustovsky, Soviet author, nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1965
- Viktor Pelevin, postmodernist writer, author of the short novel Omon Ra
- Yevgeni Petrov, extremely popular Soviet author of the 1920s and 1930s, who worked in collaboration with Ilya Ilf, see Ilf and Petrov
- Boris Pilnyak, major supporter of anti-urbanism and a critic of mechanized society, his most famous work is the novel The Naked Year
- Aleksey Pisemsky, realist writer, author of the novel A Thousand Souls
- Andrei Platonov, author of The Foundation Pit
- Boris Polevoy, notable Soviet writer, author of the popular novel Story of a Real Man about pilot Alexei Petrovich Maresiev
- Nikolay Pomyalovsky, narodnik writer, author of Seminary Sketches
- Aleksandr Pushkin, the greatest Russian poet, novelist, author of The Captain's Daughter
- Alexander Radishchev, radical writer, author of Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow
- Ayn Rand, creator of Objectivism, author of The Fountainhead, and Atlas Shrugged
- Valentin Rasputin, Soviet writer from Siberia, associated with the village prose movement
- Aleksei Remizov, modernist writer, author of The Indefatigable Cymbal
- Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, major satirist, author of The Golovlyov Family
- Alexander Serafimovich, author of the Russian Civil War novel The Iron Flood
- Varlam Shalamov, Gulag survivor, author of Kolyma Tales
- Mikhail Shishkin, widely considered to be one of the best contemporary Russian writers
- Mikhail Sholokhov, Nobel Prize for Literature, author of And Quiet Flows the Don
- Vasily Shukshin, actor, writer, screenwriter, and movie director who specialized in rural themes
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize for Literature, author of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
- Vladimir Sorokin, one of the most popular writers in modern Russian literature
- Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, collaborative duo of Soviet science fiction writers
- Nadezhda Teffi, prominent humorist writer
- Vladimir Tendryakov, Soviet writer whose works deal mainly with moral and ethical issues
- Tatyana Tolstaya, writer, TV host, publicist, novelist, and essayist from the Tolstoy family
- Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy , author of the historical novel Prince Serebryany, one of the authors to use the collective pen name Kozma Prutkov
- Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Soviet writer, best known for his works of science fiction, author of Aelita
- Leo Tolstoy, widely considered to be one of the world's greatest novelists, author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina
- Yury Trifonov, Soviet writer, considered a close contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981
- Ivan Turgenev, author of A Sportsman's Sketches, which had an influence on the abolition of serfdom in Russia
- Yury Tynyanov, important member of the Russian Formalist school, author of Lieutenant Kijé
- Lyudmila Ulitskaya, winner of the Russian Booker Prize (2002)
- Eduard Uspensky, children's writer known for his fictional characters Gena the Crocodile and Cheburashka
- Vladimir Voinovich, author of the well-known novel The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin
- Alexander Volkov, mostly remembered for his series of children's books based on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
- Ivan Yefremov, paleontologist and science fiction writer, founder of taphonomy, author of The Land of Foam, Andromeda: A Space-Age Tale and Thais of Athens
- Yevgeny Zamyatin, author of the dystopian novel We, which influenced George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, and Ayn Rand's Anthem
- Mikhail Zoshchenko, popular Soviet writer, accociated with the Serapion Brothers, author of Scenes from the Bathhouse
Philosophers and critics
Main article: Russian philosophers
- Daniil Andreyev, Christian mystic, author of Roza Mira
- Ivan Aksakov, littérateur and notable Slavophile, son of the writer Sergey Aksakov
- Mikhail Bakhtin, philosopher, literary critic, semiotician, and scholar who worked on literary theory, ethics, and the philosophy of language
- Mikhail Bakunin, well-known revolutionary and theorist of collectivist anarchism
- Vissarion Belinsky, influential critic, and editor of two major literary magazines: Otechestvennye Zapiski, and Sovremennik
- Nikolai Berdyaev, religious and political philosopher
- Helena Blavatsky, founder of Theosophy and the Theosophical Society
- Alexander Bogdanov, physician, philosopher, science fiction writer, and a key figure in the early history of the Bolsheviks
- Nikolay Chernyshevsky, famous for his philosophical novel What is To Be Done?, he was the leader of the revolutionary democratic movement of the 1860s, and an influence on Vladimir Lenin
- Nikolay Danilevsky, naturalist, economist, ethnologist, philosopher, historian, and ideologue of the pan-Slavism and Slavophile movements
- Nikolay Dobrolyubov, literary critic, journalist, and revolutionary democrat
- Pavel Florensky, Orthodox theologian, philosopher, mathematician, electrical engineer, and inventor
- Leonid Grinin, important modern sociologist and philosopher of history
- Alexander Herzen, highly influential proponent of populism, socialism, and collectivization
- Mikhail Katkov, conservative journalist and literary critic influential during the reign of Alexander III
- Ivan Kireyevsky, literary critic and philosopher, co-founder of the Slavophile movement
- Aleksey Khomyakov, religious poet and philosopher, co-founder of the Slavophile movement, coined the term sobornost
- Peter Kropotkin, naturalist, geographer and one of the world's foremost anarcho-communists
- Pyotr Lavrov, prominent Russian philosopher, publicist, sociologist, and theorist of narodism
- Konstantin Leontiev, conservative, monarchist reactionary philosopher
- Aleksei Losev, one of the most prominent figures in Russian philosophical and religious thought of the 20th century
- Yuri Lotman, prominent formalist critic, semiotician, and culturologist
- Nikolay Novikov, writer and philanthropist, a man of Russian Enlightenment, often considered to be the first Russian journalist
- Vladimir Odoevsky, well known philosopher, writer, music critic, philanthropist and pedagogue
- Peter D. Ouspensky, esoteric philosopher, author of In Search of the Miraculous
- Dmitri Pisarev, radical writer and social critic whose works had an important influence on Lenin
- Pyotr Pletnyov, poet and literary critic, and a friend of the poet Pushkin, who dedicated his novel in verse Eugene Onegin to Pletnyov
- Ayn Rand, objectivist philosopher, best known for her novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged
- Helena Roerich, philosopher, writer, public figure, and proponent of living ethics
- Lev Shestov, influential Ukrainian/Russian existentialist philosopher, author of the well-known works Penultimate Words and All Things are Possible
- Vladimir Solovyov, philosopher, poet, pamphleteer, and literary critic, who played a significant role in the development of Russian philosophy and poetry at the end of the 19th century
- Vladimir Stasov, preeminent 19th century art critic in Russia
- Leo Tolstoy, Christian anarchist and pacifist, whose ideas and social writings were the basis of the Tolstoyan movement.
- Leon Trotsky, Bolshevik, and Marxist, one of the leaders of the Russian Revolution of 1917
Playwrights
Main article: Russian playwrights
- Konstantin Aksakov, notable slavophile, author of plays that expressed his views on Russian history
- Leonid Andreyev, author of many popular plays, including He Who Gets Slapped
- Mikhail Bulgakov, popular Soviet writer, author of the play Flight
- Anton Chekhov, famous for his short stories and plays, author of The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, The Seagull
- Denis Fonvizin, known chiefly for his famous play The Minor
- Nikolai Gogol, author of the great satirical play The Government Inspector
- Maxim Gorky, author of The Lower Depths, a hallmark of socialist realism
- Aleksandr Griboyedov, author of the popular play Woe from Wit
- Mikhail Lermontov, author of the play Masquerade
- Vladimir Mayakovsky, one of the foremost representatives of Russian Futurism
- Dmitriy Merezhkovsky, one of the earliest and most eminent ideologues of Russian Symbolism, author of the play Paul I
- Alexander Ostrovsky, known for his plays dealing with the merchant class, most notably The Storm
- Aleksey Pisemsky, realist writer, author of the well-known play A Bitter Fate, considered to be the first Russian realistic tragedy
- Alexander Pushkin, Russia's national poet, also known for his plays, including Boris Godunov and The Stone Guest
- Vladimir Sorokin, poet, essayist and playwright who helped lay the foundations of classical Russian literature
- Alexander Sumarokov, poet and playwright who single-handedly created classical theatre in Russia
- Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, author of historical dramas, including The Death of Ivan the Terrible and Tsar Fyodor Ioannovich
- Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest Russian writers, author of the plays The Power of Darkness, The Fruits of Enlightenment, and The Living Corpse
- Vasily Trediakovsky, author of the play Khorev (1749), regarded as the first regular Russian drama
- Ivan Turgenev, author of the well known play A Month in the Country
Poets
Main article: Russian poets
- Anna Akhmatova, modernist poet, author of Requiem
- Bella Akhmadulina, Soviet and Russian poet who has been cited by Joseph Brodsky as the best living poet in the Russian language
- Innokenty Annensky, poet, critic, and translator, representative of the first wave of Russian Symbolism
- Gennadiy Aygi, Chuvash poet and translator, his poetry was written both in Chuvash and in Russian
- Eduard Bagritsky, an important Russian and Soviet poet of the Constructivist School
- Konstantin Balmont, symbolist poet, one of the major figures of the Silver Age of Russian Poetry
- Evgeny Baratynsky, lauded by Alexander Pushkin as the finest Russian elegiac poet, rediscovered by Anna Akhmatova and Joseph Brodsky as a supreme poet of thought.
- Ivan Barkov, author of erotic poetry
- Konstantin Batyushkov, an important precursor of Alexander Pushkin
- Andrey Bely, symbolist poet, namesake of the important Andrei Bely Prize.
- Olga Berggolts, Soviet poet, most famous for her work on the Leningrad radio during the city's blockade during World War II
- Aleksandr Blok, leader of the Russian Symbolist movement, author of The Twelve
- Joseph Brodsky, winner of the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature
- Valery Bryusov, one of the principal members of the Russian Symbolist movement
- Sasha Cherny, poet, satirist, and children's writer
- Korney Chukovsky, one of the most popular children's poets in the Russian language
- Denis Davydov, guerilla fighter and soldier-poet of the Napoleonic Wars, invented a genre of hussar poetry noted for its hedonism and bravado
- Gavrila Derzhavin, one of the greatest Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin
- Venedikt Erofeev, best known for his 1969 poem in prose Moscow-Petushki
- Afanasy Fet, had a profound influence on the Russian Symbolists, especially Annensky and Blok
- Sergei Gorodetsky, associated with the symbolists, and the acmeists
- Alexander Gorodnitsky, Soviet/Russian poet, holds a Ph.D. in geological and mineralogical sciences
- Fedor Nikolaevich Glinka, famous for his martial and religious poetry
- Nikolay Gumilyov, founded the acmeism movement
- Igor Guberman, acclaimed for his signature aphoristic and satiric quatrains, called "gariki" in Russian
- Vyacheslav Ivanov, poet and playwright associated with the Russian Symbolism movement
- Velimir Khlebnikov, influential member of the Russian Futurist movement, regarded by his contemporariesas as "a poet's poet"
- Vladislav Khodasevich, presided over the Berlin circle of Russian emigre litterateurs
- Ivan Krylov, Russia's best known fabulist
- Mikhail Lermontov, the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death, his influence on later Russian literature is still felt in modern times
- Mikhail Lomonosov, created the basis of the modern Russian literary language
- Osip Mandelstam, Acmeist poet, author of Tristia
- Vladimir Mayakovsky, among the most important representatives of early-20th century Russian Futurism
- Apollon Maykov, his lyrical poems often showcase images of Russian villages, nature, and Russian history
- Semen Nadson, successful poet who died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty four
- Vladimir Narbut, Russian poet of Ukrainian descent, member of the Acmeist group
- Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, one of Russia's most popular poets, author of the long poem Who is Happy in Russia?
- Boris Pasternak, author of the influential poem My Sister Life, Nobel Prize winner (was forced to decline the prize)
- Nikolai Ogarev, known to every Russian, not only as a poet, but as the fellow-exile and collaborator of Alexander Herzen on Kolokol, a newspaper printed in England and smuggled into Russia
- Yakov Polonsky, a leading Pushkinist poet
- Symeon of Polotsk, an academically trained Baroque Belarusian-Russian poet
- Kozma Prutkov, fictional author invented by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy and his three cousins
- Alexander Pushkin, the greatest Russian poet, author of Eugene Onegin
- K.R., a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, a poet and playwright of some renown
- Igor Severyanin, presided over the circle of the so-called Ego-Futurists
- Ilya Selvinsky, leader of the Constructivist movement
- Boris Slutsky, one of the most important representatives of the War generation of Russian poets
- Fyodor Sologub, influential symbolist poet and writer
- Alexander Sumarokov, assisted Mikhail Lomonosov in inaugurating the reign of classicism in Russian literature
- Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy , popular poet and dramatist, known for his humorous and satirical verse
- Vasily Trediakovsky, helped lay the foundations of classical Russian literature
- Marina Tsvetaeva, known primarily for her lyric poetry, widely admired by her fellow poets
- Aleksandr Tvardovsky, chief editor of Novy Mir for many years, author of Vasili Tyorkin
- Fyodor Tyutchev, romantic poet, author of The Last Love
- Maximilian Voloshin, Symbolist poet, famous freemason
- Pyotr Yershov, author of the famous fairy-tale poem The Humpbacked Horse
- Sergei Yesenin, one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century, author of Land of Scoundrels
- Yevgeny Yevtushenko, Soviet/Russian poet, director of several films
- Nikolay Zabolotsky, one of the founders of the Russian avant-garde absurdist group OBERIU
- Iuliia Zhádovskaia, many of her poems have been made into popular songs
- Vasily Zhukovsky, credited with introducing the Romantic Movement to Russian literature
0 Comments
