Venedikt Vasilyevich Erofeev, also known as Benedict Erofeev or Erofeyev, was a renowned Russian writer and Soviet dissident. He was born on October 24, 1938, in the Niva-3 settlement, a suburb of Kandalaksha, and passed away on May 11, 1990, in Moscow.

Erofeev began his education at the philology department of Moscow State University but was expelled after a year and a half for failing to attend compulsory military training. He continued his studies at various institutes in towns such as Kolomna and Vladimir, but was often expelled due to his "amoral behaviour" and freethinking.

Between 1958 and 1975, Erofeev lived without a residence permit in various towns across Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania, and also spent time in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, working in numerous low-qualified and underpaid jobs.

He is best known for his 1969 prose poem Moscow-Petushki.