Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895) was a novelist, short story writer, playwright, and journalist. He began his literary career in the early 1860s with the publication of his short story "The Extinguished Flame," the novellas Musk-Ox and The Life of a Peasant Woman, and his novel No Way Out. He is best known for his major works Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, The Cathedral Clergy, The Enchanted Wanderer, and The Tale of Cross-eyed Lefty from Tula, and The Steel Flea.
Robert Chandler has translated many NYRB Classics, including Soul and The Foundation Pit by Andrey Platonov and Life and Fate and Stalingrad by Vasily Grossman. He lives in London.
Donald Rayfield is an emeritus professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary University of London. He translated Nikolai Gogol's Dead Souls and Varlam Shalamov's Kolyma Stories and Sketches of the Criminal World.