Uri Nissan Gnessin was born in Starodub, where his father was a rabbi. He left home at an early age, and moving from one yeshiva to the another, he developed a life-long friendship with a fellow Hebrew modernist author, Yosef Haim Brenner.

His first published text was in 1904. In 1906 he co-founded the Hebrew language publishing house "Nisyonot" (Attempts), and after moving to London in 1907, he co-edited (with Brenner) Ha'Meorer, a Hebrew periodical. Following that he moved to Palestine but returned to Russia in 1908. Later he settled in Warsaw, where he died in 1913 of a heart attack.

Gnessin wrote in a unique style of prose that was notable for its expressionistic language. Several Israeli literary scholars, such as Dan Miron and Gershon Shaked, wrote about his work, especially about the short story "BaGanim" (In the Gardens) which is about incest between a father and his intellectually disabled daughter. (Summary following Wikipedia)