Nikolai Semyonovich Leskov was born on the 16th February 1831 in Gorokhovo, Oryol Gubernia, Russia.

He was formally educated at the Oryol Lyceum and in 1847 he joined the Oryol criminal court office, later transferring to Kiev, where he worked as a clerk, attended university lectures, and took part in various local activities and mixed in student circles.

A decade later he resigned and went to work for the private trading company Scott & Wilkins owned by Alexander Scott, his aunt's Scottish husband.

In 1862 his literary career was underway, and he published his first short story ‘The Extinguished Flame’ followed by 2 novellas the following year ‘Musk-Ox’ and ‘The Life of a Peasant Woman’. Leskov’s first novel ‘No Way Out’, under the pseudonym M. Stebnitsky, arrived in 1864.

From the mid-1860s to the mid-1880s Leskov published his major works over a wide range of genres including journalism, sketches, short stories, and novels. Through his writings he was able to establish a comprehensive tapestry of the prevailing Russian contemporary society.

Several of his later works were banned due to their satirical treatment of the Russian Orthodox Church and its functionaries.

Nikolai Leskov died on the 5th March 1895. He was 64.