Nikolai Leskov

Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was a Russian novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and journalist, who also wrote under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky. Praised for his unique writing style and innovative experiments in form, and held in high esteem by Leo Tolstoy, Anton Chekhov and Maxim Gorky among others, Leskov is credited with creating a comprehensive picture of contemporary Russian society using mostly short literary forms. His major works include Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (1865), The Cathedral Folk (1872), The Enchanted Wanderer (1873), and "The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula and the Steel Flea" (1881).

16 February 1831

Born on the same birth day (16 February): Agyness Deyn • Craig Laundy • Elizabeth Olsen • Hans F. K. Günther • Ice-T • James Baskett • James Ingram • Jerome Bettis • John Bradbury (drummer) • John Corigliano • Kenneth Price • Lanny McDonald • Margaux Hemingway • Michael Holding • Qyntel Woods • Rickie Lambert • Ron Vlaar • Stéphane Dalmat • Tom Crean (explorer) • Tommy Milone • Valentino Rossi • Vera-Ellen • William Katt • Zoran Čampara

Born in the same month (February 1831): Hendrik Willem Mesdag • John Aaron Rawlins • Leo von Caprivi • Oliver Ames (governor)