Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Набоков, pronounced ) (22 April 1899,c Saint Petersburg – 2 July 1977, Montreux) was a multilingual Russian-American novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist. He also made contributions to entomology and had an interest in chess problems.

Nabokov's Lolita (1955) is frequently cited as amongst his most important novels, and is his most widely known, exhibiting the love of intricate word play and descriptive detail that characterized all his works. The novel was ranked at #4 in the list of the 100 best novels of the 20th century by the Modern Library. His memoir entitled Speak, Memory was listed #8 on the Modern Library nonfiction list.

Nabokov was born on April 22, 1899 (10 April 1899 Old-Style).b