Anna Akhmatova (Russian and Ukrainian: А́нна Ахма́това; June 23 [O.S. June 11] 1889 – March 5, 1966) was the pen name of Anna Andreëvna Gorenko (Russian: А́нна Андре́евна Горе́нко; Ukrainian: Га́нна Андрі́ївна Горе́нко), a Russian/Soviet poet credited with a large influence on Russian poetry.

Akhmatova's work ranges from short lyric poems to universalized, ingeniously structured cycles, such as Requiem (1935-40), her tragic masterpiece about the . Her work addresses a variety of themes including time and memory, the fate of creative women, and the difficulties of living and writing in the shadow of Stalinism. She has been widely translated into many languages and is one of the best-known Russian poets of 20th century.