Leo Tolstoy

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828–20 November 1910), also known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian novelist who is widely recognized as one of the greatest writers of all time. From 1902 through 1906, he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature every year, as well as the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902, and 1909.

Tolstoy, who was born in 1828 to an aristocratic Russian family, is best known for his novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1878), which are often considered to be the pinnacles of realism literature. With his semi-autobiographical trilogy Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856) and Sevastopol Sketches (1855), based on his experiences in the Crimean War, he first gained literary recognition in his twenties. Hundreds of short tales and novellas, including The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886), Family Happiness (1859), "After the Ball" (1911), and Hadji Murad, are among his works (1912). He also penned a number of plays and philosophical essays.

Detailed Information:

Max. estimated sales: 413 million

Original language: Russian

Genre and/or major works: War and Peace, Anna Karenina

Number of books: 48