Nina Berberova (born August 8, 1901,St. Petersburg, Russia—died September 26, 1993,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S.) was a Russian-born émigré writer, biographer, editor, and translator known for her examination of theplight of exiles.

Berberova left theSoviet Union in 1922 and lived in Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Italy as part ofMaxim Gorky’s entourage before settling inParis in 1925. While living in Europe she served as coeditor of the literary journalNovy dom (1926; “New House”) and as literary editor of the weeklyRusskaya mysl (1948–50; “Russian Thought”). Although she wrote four novels, includingPosledneye i pervoye (1929; “The Last and the First”) andPovelitelnitsa (1932; “Female Sovereign”), she was more successful as a writer of short stories and novellas. Her cycle of stories entitled “Biyankurskiye prazdniki” (“Billancourt Holidays”) was published serially between 1928 and 1940 inPosledniye novosti and was published in the U.S.S.R. in 1989. Another collection isOblegcheniye uchasti (1949; “The Easing of Fate”). She also wrote poetry and biographies.

Berberova moved to theUnited States in 1950 and later became a citizen. She worked as a language instructor andVoice of America radio announcer beforeembarking on a teaching career that included positions as lecturer atYale University (1958–63) and professor ofliterature atPrinceton University (1963–71). Her autobiography,The Italics Are Mine (1969), appeared in English first, then Russian.The Tattered Cloak (1991) is a collection of some of her early short stories translated into English.Three Novels (1990) andThree Novels: The Second Volume (1991) contain translations of her earlier writings in Russian. After her death, translations of her work continued to be published, including abiography,Aleksandr Blok (1996); three novellas inThe Ladies from St. Petersburg (1998); and two novels, the autobiographicalThe Book of Happiness (1999) andCape of Storms (1999). Among her own translations are works ofRomain Rolland,Constantine Cavafy, andT.S. Eliot into Russian and ofFyodor Dostoyevsky into French.