Ilya Ilf and Evgeny Petrov were two Soviet prose authors of the 1920s and 1930s. They did much of their writing together, and are almost always referred to as "Ilf and Petrov". They became extremely popular for the two their satirical novels: The Twelve Chairs and its sequel, The Little Golden Calf. The two texts are connected by their main character, a con man Ostap Bender out in pursuit of elusive riches.