is an award-winning American novelist, poet, and playwright whose work explores cross-cultural experiences, identity, and the quiet complexities of everyday life. With a background in journalism and education, her career has taken her across the Americas—from reporting and teaching in Venezuela and Colombia to educating students in New Jersey and at Ocean County College.

She is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction, including The Spanish Teacher, which won the Gival Press Fiction Award, and Rosa, winner of the Driftless Novella Prize. Her bibliography also includes The Gold Mine, Henrietta Rose, Carl, Willi, and Blanche, Adam’s Chair, The Mists, and poetry collections such as Rosamundo and On the River This Morning.

Barbara holds an MA in English Literature from Vanderbilt University and a Master’s in Creative Nonfiction from Lesley University. Her short stories and poetry have appeared in numerous literary journals including California Quarterly and The Texas Review. She has been recognized with fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the Massachusetts Artists’ Foundation, and the Geraldine Dodge Foundation, and has participated in residencies at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Millay Colony, and Ragdale.

In addition to her literary accomplishments, Barbara has had two plays produced Off-Off Broadway and was a visiting playwright at Syracuse Stage.

She continues to write, teach, and share stories shaped by a life lived across languages, borders, and cultures.