Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow on 11th November 1821. He had six siblings and his mother
died in 1837 and his father in 1839. He graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Military
Engineering in 1846 but decided to change careers and become a writer. His first book Poor
Folk did very well but on 23rd April 1849 he was arrested for subversion and sentenced to
death. After a mock-execution his sentence was commuted to hard labour in Siberia where he
developed epilepsy.He was released in 1854. His 1860 book The House of the Dead was based on
these experiences. In 1857 he married Maria Dmitrievna Isaeva. After his release he adopted
more conservative and traditional values and rejected his previous socialist position. In the
following years he spent a lot of time abroad struggled with an addiction to gambling and fell
deeply in debt. His wife died in 1864 and he married Anna Grigoryeva Snitkina. In the following
years he published his most enduring and successful books including Crime and Punishment
(1865). He died on 9th February 1881.
