Maxim Gorky, born Alexei Maximovich Peshkov on March 28, 1868, was a renowned Russian and Soviet writer and a proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before gaining success as an author, Gorky travelled widely across the Russian Empire, holding numerous jobs which later influenced his writing.

Gorky is best known for his early short stories, including "Chelkash", "Old Izergil", and "Twenty-six Men and a Girl" written in the 1890s. His plays such as The Philistines (1901), The Lower Depths (1902), and Children of the Sun (1905), along with his poem "The Song of the Stormy Petrel" (1901), added to his fame.

He also wrote an autobiographical trilogy: My Childhood, In the World, and My Universities (1913–1923), and the novel Mother (1906). Despite some critical reception, Gorky's later works, such as The Artamonov Business (1925) and The Life of Klim Samgin (1925–1936), have been praised, with the latter considered by some as his masterpiece.

Throughout his life, Gorky was involved in the emerging Marxist socialist movement and was a supporter of the Bolsheviks. He publicly opposed the Tsarist regime and was closely associated with significant figures such as Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov.

During World War I, Gorky supported pacifism and was critical of both Tsarist and Bolshevik regimes, which led to his exile. He returned to the Soviet Union in 1928 at Joseph Stalin's invitation and became known as the "founder of Socialist Realism." Despite supporting Stalin publicly, Gorky maintained friendships with opposition leaders and attempted to ease Soviet cultural policies before his death on June 18, 1936.