The article investigates quantitative and spatial dynamics, social structure, creative specialization, national and gender structure of Russian writers of the 19th – early 20th century. As an empirical base of the study, biographical dictionaries for this period were used, consisting of about 2.5 thousand persons. The study showed that the Russian writers’ community remained predominantly noble until the end of the imperial period. But the share of representatives of other social groups has steadily increased since the second third of the 19th century. The leading literary specializations of Russian authors were prose, poetry, translation and journalism (but the ratio of these specializations varied significantly within the analyzed period). Along with the Russians, who made up absolute majority, a number of other nationalities (Germans, Poles, Ukrainians) were represented in large groups (3–7%) in the writers’ community. In the last third of the 19th century in the literary environment a group of authors of Jewish origin is rapidly growing. During the analyzed period, the writers’ community has grown considerably, substantially increased its social and ethnic diversity; significantly expanded the geography of its foci. The central role in this was played by the reforms of the last third of the 19th century, democratization of public life and development of mass schooling.