1852∼1906. 러시아 태생. 19세기 당대의 유명한 작가로서 대표적 작품으로는 자전적 전기소설인 『쪼마의 유년 시대』 『중학생』 『대학생』 『기사』 4부작이 있다.
1898년 세계 일주 여행을 다녀온 후 쓴 기행문 『조선·만주·요동반도 기행』에는 백두산을 중심으로 우리나라 북부 지방을 돌아다니면서 수집한 민담이 실려 있어 우리에겐 소중한 자료가 되고 있다.

Nikolai Georgievich Garin-Mikhailovsky was born into a time-honoured noble family and was baptized by Tsar Nicholas the First and the mother of revolutionist Vera Zasulich.

Nikolai graduated from the Railroad Engineers Institute and for four years served in Bulgaria and worked on construction of Batumi port. After that he wished to “settle down on land” and spent three years in the countryside, in Samara Province; however his unconventional land management was not a success and he took service again to participate in construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

In 1891 Nikolai Garin-Mikhailovsky headed the surveying party that chose the place for building a railroad bridge over River Ob for the Trans-Siberian Railway. It was he who rejected the option of raising the bridge in Tomsk city. This decision later resulted in the choice of the future Novosibirsk and played a vital role in development of the city.

The railroad engineer appeared on the literary stage with his successful story Tyoma’s Childhood (1892) and the short story Several Years in the Country.

His travels in the Far East resulted in the travel notes Around Korea, Manchuria and Liaodong Peninsula (1899) and Korean Tales (published in 1899).