AustLit

Bella-Natalie Lukinova grew up in Sukhumi, north-west of Georgia. Her mother was a biology professor and her father was a journalist from Siberia. Lukinova studied medical research before working as a freelance newspaper and magazine journalist for publications including Pravda and as a television presenter, reporter and scriptwriter for Good Evening Moscow!. She visited other countries as a member of the Union of Soviet Journalists.

Lukinova wrote several non-fiction books in Russia, including The Eternal Remedies, which is about alternative medicine practices and co-authored with a doctor. Lukinova has taught Russian at Melbourne University, worked as a health educator for the Anti-Cancer Council of Victoria in their community language programme and, as a member of the Australian Literary Translators' Association, she has interpreted and translated Russian works, including poetry.