Shishkov Vyacheslav Yakovlevich (1873-1945), prose writer. Born on September 21 (October 3, n.s.) in the city of Bezhetsk, Tver province, in a merchant family. At eighteen, he graduated from the Vyshnevolotsk school. For twenty-one years (1894-1915) he lived in Siberia, where he served in the Office of the Tomsk District of Railways, making long expeditions along the edge and Siberian rivers, impressions of which will later be included in his works.