Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He is best known for the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877) often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction.

Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. His most acclaimed works include Crime and Punishment (1866), The Idiot (1869), Demons (1872), and The Brothers Karamazov (1880).

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short fiction in history.

Nikolai Gogol (1809-1852) was a Russian dramatist of Ukrainian origin. His early works, such as Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka, were influenced by his Ukrainian upbringing, Ukrainian culture and folklore. Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) was a Russian and Soviet writer, a founder of the socialist realism literary method He was also a five-time nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Gorky's most famous works were The Lower Depths (1902), Twenty-six Men and a Girl (1899), The Song of the Stormy Petrel (1901), My Childhood (1913-1914), Mother (1906), Summerfolk (1904) and Children of the Sun (1905). Other Authors are also prominent Authors.