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This author was born at Yasnaya Polyana, but then orphaned at the age of 9 and raised by an aunt. In university he studied languages and law, but never got a degree. His most famous works, 'Anna Karenina' and 'War and Peace', have been translated into many languages and brought him world wide recognition long after his death. What is his name?

Leo Tolstoi. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) also spent some of his time as a soldier at Caucasus and participated in the Crimean War. Later on he married Sofya Andreyevna Bers and spent many years managing Yasnaya Polyana and writing. He published three autobiographical novels: 'Childhood', 'Boyhood', and 'Youth', as well as many other stories. One of Tolstoy's interests later on in his life was education of the peasants. He started a school at Yasnaya Polyana for village children and on his travels to Germany and France he took up visiting elementary schools. In Leo Tolstoy's childhood, his elder brother Nikolai told him that there is a stick near a Zakaz forest that holds a secret of how to make all men happy and Tolstoy asked to be buried where the stick was supposedly hidden.

This journalist, novelist and doctor lived in the end of nineteenth and the first half of twentieth century. He was born in Kiev, which was part of USSR and at first worked as a doctor during the Russian Revolution and World War I. Later on he wrote one of his most famous novels, 'Master and Margarita', which is a story of the Devil visiting Moscow. Unfortunately, it took decades to publish the novel officially since its content was censored by Russian governement. Who is he?

Mikhail Bulgakov. Mikhail Bulgakov (1891-1940) was also known as a playwright at the Moscow Arts Theater. He wrote and staged his own plays that became quite popular in Moscow. He also married three times to Tatiana Nikolaevna Lappa, Liubov Evgenevna Belozerskaia, and Elena Sergeevna Shilovskaya. The latter was a great help to Bulgakov while he was writing 'Master and Margarita'.

This author was born in the hospital for the poor in Moscow. Later on he went to St. Petersburg Academy of Military Engineers and graduated as a lieutenant. After that he spent four years in a Siberia prison due to his acquaintance with Butashevich-Petrashevsky. His most famous works are 'The Idiot', 'Crime and Punishment', and 'Brothers Karamazov'. Who is he?

Fyodor Dostoevsky. Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821-1881) was the third child in a family of seven children. His parents died early, so he attended boarding schools in Moscow since 1831. Dostoevsky was married twice: once to Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva, who died, and then to Anna Grigorievna Snitkina, whom he initially hired as a stenographer to complete faster 'The Gambler'. Dostoevsky had three children, two of whom died early in their lives; the third one had a nervous breakdown when her father died and never recovered after that.

This author is most known as a poet and a playwright. He was born in a noble Russian family and found his literary talent in school and was a formed poet at the age of 15. He was a very social person; he also took part in undercover revolutionary group and because of that was exiled to Caucasus. Later on the Czar pardoned him and he returned to St. Petersburg. He is well known for his verse novel 'Eugene Onegin' and drama 'Boris Godunov'. He was a jealous man and died at the age of 38 by challenging his wife's admirer to a duel.

Alexander Pushkin. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin (1799-1837) is believed a founder of classical Russian poetry. His plays are still very popular in the theaters and he is studied mandatorily in Russian schools. His other well-known works are 'Poltava', 'The Bronze Horseman', 'Mozart and Salieri', and 'The Stone Guest'.

This author is one of most cherished Russian storytellers. He wrote plays and stories, some of them small farces and other much longer dramas. One of his most known works is 'The Three Sisters'. Who is he?

Anton Chekhov. Anton Checkov also wrote 'Ivanov', 'The Wood Demon', 'The Seagull', 'Uncle Vanya', 'The Cherry Orchard', and many others. He was born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia, but lived most of his life in Moscow, writing for Moscow Art Theater. Only late in his life he had to live away from Moscow visiting resorts, but eventually he died of tuberculosis in 1904.