Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov (Алексей Максимович Пешков) (March 28, 1868 - June 17, 1936), better known as Maxim Gorky (Максим Горький), was a Russian author and political activist. He was born in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, and died in Moscow. From 1906 to 1913 and from 1921 to 1929 he lived abroad; after his return to the Soviet Union he accepted the cultural policies of the time, although he was not permitted to leave the country.
The town of his birth was renamed Gorky in his honour in 1932, but it reverted to its original name of Nizhny Novgorod in 1990.
