Tolstoy was a Russian novelist, considered one of the most important writers in world literature. He received multiple nominations for the Nobel Prize for Literature, every year from 1902 to 1906, and nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, 1902 and 1910. His two most famous works, 'War and Peace' and 'Ana Karénina', are considered to be the pinnacle of Russian realism, along with works by Fyodor Dostoyevski. He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays.

In the 1870s, Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his non-fiction work 'A Confession' (1882). His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centred on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. His ideas on non-violent resistance, expressed in such works as 'The Kingdom of God Is Within You' (1894), had a profound impact on such pivotal 20th-century figures as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. (+info)

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