Vyacheslav Yakovlevich Shishkov (1873, 1945) was a Russian and Soviet writer, as well as an engineer. He was born in Bezhetsk, which is now in the Tver region, to a family of a small shopkeeper, Yakov Dmitrievich Shishkov. Vyacheslav was the first of nine children. His mother, Yekaterina Ivanovna Shishkova, was born with the surname Pervukhina. In his autobiography, Shishkov mentioned that his paternal grandfather, Dmitry Alekseevich Shishkov, was a landowner in the Bezhetsk district, and his grandmother, Elizaveta Danilovna, was a serf peasant from the village of Shishkova Dubrova. In 1880, he began his education at a private boarding school but soon transferred to the Bezhetsk City 6-class school due to financial difficulties. Graduating with honors, Vyacheslav entered the Vyshnevolotsk Technical Construction School. The head of the school, Sheremetinsky, spoke of Shishkov as a person of rare abilities and a kind heart. Thanks to his recommendations, the educational department of the Ministry of Railways awarded Shishkov a scholarship of 10 rubles a month. In 1890, he completed the third year and went on a two-year construction internship in the Novgorod province, where he participated in the construction of the stone Berezayskaya dam and then worked in the Opechensky settlement. After nearly two years, he moved to Vologda, in the Vychegda district of communications. During this time, Shishkov met John of Kronstadt, who was traveling on a steamboat where Shishkov was the chief surveyor on the Pinega River. Vyacheslav recalled that John of Kronstadt behaved simply and did not show hypocrisy. Soon, Shishkov received the title of technician and began to think about working in Siberia.

At the end of 1894, he went to Siberia and started working in the Tomsk district of communications as a clerical servant. Vyacheslav recalled that during this time he married a student, Anna Ivanovna Ashlova, but their marriage lasted less than two years. In 1896, he became a technician in the district administration and participated for two years in an expedition to explore the Ob River. At the end of 1900, after passing exams, Shishkov had the opportunity to lead expeditionary teams. For fifteen years, he conducted annual expeditions on the rivers Irtysh, Ob, Biya, Katun, Yenisei, Chulym, Lena, Lower Tunguska, and Angara. The expedition to the Lower Tunguska in 1911 was particularly significant, where they managed to conduct surveys and measurements to determine the navigability of the river. He worked in Tomsk until 1916 and met G. N. Potanin, who influenced his literary career. The studies of Biya and the route of the future Chuysky tract were of great importance for his engineering and creative activities.

Shishkov's first literary experience came at the age of 11 or 12 when he wrote the story "Wolf's Den." His abilities were noticed by teachers as early as the fifth grade. His first publication, the fairy tale "Cedar," appeared in the newspaper "Siberian Life" in 1908. From 1911, he attended Potanin's "Thursdays," where the creative and scientific intelligentsia of Tomsk gathered. Shishkov began to actively engage in literature in 1913, publishing stories "Prayed," "Quick Trial," and "Kralya." In 1915, he moved to Petrograd and became close to M. Gorky. In 1916, with Gorky's assistance, his first collection of stories "Siberian Tale" was published. After moving to Petrograd, Siberia and Altai remained important themes in his work. The novels "The Gang" and "Gloomy River" became the pinnacle of his Siberian prose. The result of his work in Altai was the collection "Along the Chuysky Tract" and the stories "Chuy Tales." In the last seven years of his life, he worked on the historical epic "Emelyan Pugachev," which remained unfinished. From 1941, Shishkov was in besieged Leningrad, where he wrote articles for front-line newspapers.

Vyacheslav Yakovlevich was a talented realist storyteller, deeply knowledgeable about Siberia and interested in the folk language. His ethnographic linguistic sensitivity always amazed readers. Shishkov passed away on the night of March 5-6, 1945, and was buried in Moscow at Novodevichy Cemetery.