Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky was a prominent Soviet and Russian science-fiction author, best known for his collaboration with his brother Boris Strugatsky. Born on 28 August 1925 in Batumi, Arkady's family moved to Leningrad during his childhood. During World War II, in January 1942, Arkady and his father were evacuated from the Siege of Leningrad; tragically, he was the only survivor in his train car as his father died upon reaching Vologda.

Arkady was drafted into the Soviet army in 1943. He received his initial training at the artillery school in Aktyubinsk and later attended the Military Institute of Foreign Languages in Moscow. He graduated in 1949 as an interpreter of English and Japanese, subsequently working as a teacher and interpreter.

Arkady, alongside his brother Boris, wrote numerous influential works of science fiction, including Hard to Be a God (1964), Monday Begins on Saturday (1965), and Roadside Picnic (1971), the latter of which was adapted by Andrei Tarkovsky into the film Stalker (1979).