Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential authors of all time. He received nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year from 1902 to 1906 and for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902, and 1909. Tolstoy never having won a Nobel Prize was a major Nobel Prize controversy, and remains one.

Born to an aristocratic family, Tolstoy achieved acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood and Youth (1852–1856), and with Sevastopol Sketches (1855), based on his experiences in the Crimean War. Tolstoy's War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878) are often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction and two of the greatest novels ever written. His oeuvre includes short stories such as "Alyosha the Pot" (1905) and "After the Ball" (1911) and novellas such as Family Happiness (1859), The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886) and Hadji Murad (1912). He also wrote plays and essays concerning philosophical, moral and religious themes.