Aleksandr Ivanovich Kuprin (1870–1938) was a Russian writer best known for his novels The Duel (1905) and Yama: The Pit (1915), as well as Moloch (1896), Olesya (1898), "Captain Ribnikov" (1906), "Emerald" (1907), and The Garnet Bracelet (1911).

Kuprin was highly praised by fellow writers including Anton Chekhov, Maxim Gorky, Leonid Andreyev, Ivan Bunin and Leo Tolstoy, the latter proclaiming him a true successor to Chekhov. Vladimir Nabokov called him "the Russian Kipling" for his stories about pathetic adventure-seekers, who are often 'neurotic and vulnerable'. All through the 20th century Alexander Kuprin remained one of the widest read classics in Russian literature, with many films based on his works.