Nella Bielski was born in Russia just before World War II. She is part of that generation who was evacuated to the Urals during the German attack and had just reached adolescence when Stalin died. She was one of the few women to study at the Moscow Philosophy Faculty.Bielski's prize-winning fiction includes After Arkadia (Viking). Together with John Berger, she has written two plays, A Question of Geography and Goya's Last Portrait as well as Isabelle: A Story in Shots. She lives in Paris.