Awards
Costa Biography Award
2009 Shortlist
Bloomsbury Ballerina by Judith Mackrell
Judges: "The vividly-described, extraordinary life of the lively and eccentric ballerina who was drawn by Picasso, loathed by the Bloomsbury set and adored by her husband, John Maynard Keynes."
Lydia Lopokova was born in St Petersburg in 1891. Just five feet tall and a natural comedian, her vivacious personality and sheer force of charm propelled her to the top of Diadhilev's Ballets Russes. Through a combination of luck, determination and talent, Lydia became a star in Paris, a vaudeville favourite in America, the toast of Britain and then, unexpectedly, married the world-renowned economist and formerly homosexual, John Maynard Keynes. Lydia's story is an extraordinary one especially as she refused all requests to write her memoirs in her lifetime.
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