Alexei Maximovich Peskov (Russian: Алексей Максимович Пешков;[b] 28 March [O.S. 16 March] 1868 – 18 June 1936), popularly known as Maxim Gorky was a Russian and Soviet writer and proponent of socialism. He was nominated five times for the Nobel Prize in Literature. Before his success as an author, he travelled widely across the Russian Empire changing jobs frequently, experiences which would later influence his writing.