Born in 1901 to an Armenian father and a Russian mother, Nina Berberova was brought up in Saint Petersburg.

There, Berberova became a permanent contributor to the White émigré publication Posledniye Novosti ("The Latest News"), where she published short stories, poems, film reviews and chronicles of Soviet literature.

The stories collected in Oblegchenie Uchasti ("The Easing of Fate") and Biiankurskie Prazdniki ("Billancourt Fiestas") were written during this period.

After living in Paris for 25 years, Berberova emigrated to the United States in 1950 and became an American citizen in 1959.

She continued to write while she was teaching and published several povesti (long short stories), literary criticism and some poetry.