V. M. (Vlas Mikhaĭlovich) Doroshevich

Born in 1864, Vlas Mikhailovich Doroshevich became one of the best-known journalists in late imperial Russia. He wrote not only as a reporter, but also as a novelist, essayist, drama critic, and short-story writer, earning a wide readership for a style that was lively, direct, and memorable.

He is especially remembered for bringing literary energy to journalism. His writing could be funny and biting, but it could also turn serious and humane when he was describing social realities. One of his most noted works grew out of a visit to Sakhalin, Russia's far eastern penal colony, where he recorded what he saw in a way that gave readers a vivid sense of place and hardship.

Doroshevich died in 1922, but his reputation has lasted because he wrote with both speed and substance. For listeners today, he offers a window into Russian public life at a moment of major change, told by an author who knew how to hold a reader's attention.