Yuri Nikolaevich Govorukho-Otrok (1854, 1896) was a Russian writer, publicist, and literary critic.

He was born into a noble family that traced its origins to the Zaporozhian Cossacks, on January 25, 1851 (according to other sources, January 29, 1850). Yuri's childhood was spent in his father's estate. After his father's death, he moved to Kharkiv and enrolled in the second gymnasium. At the gymnasium, Govorukho-Otrok became interested in revolutionary journalism and the ideas of Chernyshevsky, Pisarev, Dobrolyubov, and others. After completing five grades, he earned money through private tutoring and prepared to enter the Imperial Kharkiv University. At 18, Yuri married 16-year-old Sofia Fyodorovna Popova, the daughter of a district doctor, who also had an interest in theater, literature, and revolutionary ideas. Unable to manage a household, he soon found himself in dire financial straits and even considered becoming an actor. Thanks to a relative, actor Struzhkin, he joined a traveling troupe and performed in several provincial plays.

In April 1874, Yuri met Kovalik, one of the initiators of the "going to the people" movement, and other free thinkers. He joined a revolutionary circle but soon left it and did not engage in revolutionary activities. In December of the same year, Yuri went to St. Petersburg, where he met N. K. Mikhailovsky, but on December 18, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In 1877, he was convicted in the "Case of Propaganda in the Empire (Process of the 193)" and sentenced to exile in the Tobolsk province for one year and three months. However, the time he had already spent in prison was counted, and he was released in May 1878.

After his release, Yuri lived in St. Petersburg for several months, where, with Mikhailovsky's help, he anonymously published in "Otechestvennye Zapiski." He was then exiled to Kharkiv, where he worked as an assistant librarian at Kharkiv University and at the newspaper "Kharkov." In September 1879, he was visited by Zhelyabov. In the 1880s, his prose was published in St. Petersburg magazines "Slovo" and "Vestnik Evropy," as well as in the Kharkiv magazine "Mir." By that time, Govorukho-Otrok had revised his views on life, and his works began to critique the Narodnik movement. In 1881, he became a contributor to the Kharkiv newspaper "Yuzhny Kray," finding his place in journalism and literary criticism. During this period, he was greatly influenced by the works of Apollon Grigoriev.

The stories "Fatum" and "Razvyazka" provoked a sharp reaction from Mikhailovsky, who called their heroes "hamletized piglets," and later wrote a pamphlet "The Career of Oladushkin," where one of the prototypes of the renegade hero was Govorukho-Otrok.

In 1889, Moscow publishers noticed Govorukho-Otrok and invited him as a literary reviewer for "Moskovskie Vedomosti." There, he met prominent conservative writers such as N. N. Strakhov, K. N. Leontyev, L. A. Tikhomirov, P. E. Astafyev, V. V. Rozanov, and others. During this period, he completely distanced himself from the ideas of the "sixty-ers," whom he called "unrepentant corpses." Lev Tikhomirov described him as a devout Orthodox Christian, a convinced monarchist. Although he was not a Slavophile, he defended them against the criticism of liberal publicists like Vladimir Solovyov, believing that the Slavophiles highlighted the importance of Orthodoxy for Russia.

Govorukho-Otrok gained significant recognition as a literary critic. His talent was noted by Vasily Rozanov, Nikolai Strakhov, and Lev Tikhomirov. In the 1890s, he published in "Russkoe Obozrenie" and "Russkiy Vestnik."

Yuri died in the village of Razumovskoye near Moscow from a brain hemorrhage. His death was noted by almost all major publications: "Novoe Vremya," "Russkiy Vestnik," "Russkoe Slovo," "Russkie Vedomosti," and others, as well as some foreign ones, such as "Figaro" and "La Verité." He was buried in Moscow at the Sorrowful Women's Monastery. Two years later, friends and admirers raised money for a monument at his grave. The design of the monument was created by Govorukho-Otrok's friend, artist Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov, and the monument itself was made in the workshop of Vasily Ivanovich Orlov. The grave is now lost.