Aleksey Feofilaktovich Pisemsky ( – ) was a Russian novelist and dramatist who was regarded as an equal of
Ivan Turgenev and
Fyodor Dostoyevsky in the late 1850s, but whose reputation suffered a spectacular decline after his fall-out with
Sovremennik magazine in the early 1860s. A
realistic playwright, along with
Aleksandr Ostrovsky he was responsible for the first dramatization of ordinary people in the history of Russian theatre. "Pisemsky's great narrative gift and exceptionally strong grip on reality make him one of the best Russian novelists," according to
D.S. Mirsky.