Uri Nissan Gnessin (1879–1913) was a Russian Jewish writer, generally considered a pioneer in modern Hebrew literature. Born in Starodub, where his father was a rabbi. He left home at an early age, and moved from one yeshiva to the other, he had struck up a lifelong friendship with fellow Hebrew modernist author, Yosef Haim Brenner, who had attended the Pochep yeshiva with him.
His first published text was in 1904. In 1906 he had co-founded the Hebrew language publishing house "Nisyonot" (Attempts), and after moving to London in 1907, he had co-edited (with Brenner) Ha'Meorer, a Hebrew periodical. Following that he moved to Palestine but returned to Russia in 1908. Following that he had returned to Warsaw, where he died in 1913 of a heart attack.
Gnessin wrote in a unique style of prose, that had been notable for its expressionistic language form. Many Israeli literary scholars, such as Dan Miron and Gershon Shaked have written of his work, especially about the short story "BaGanim" (At the Gardens).
