Born in New York City, she is an immigrant. And a settler. Her poetry and short fiction have appeared in Conjunctions, The Malahat Review, The New Quarterly, The New Yorker, and The Paris Review. Her poetry chapbook In the Mynah Bird’s Own Words was selected by Robert Wrigley as the winner of Tupelo Press’s inaugural chapbook award. Barbara’s full-length poetry collection,Precedented Parroting(Anstruther Books | Palimpsest Press), was a finalist for the 2024 Governor General’s Literary Award, and shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for best debut poetry book in Canada, and the 2025 Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. knife | fork | book will publish Barbara’s chapbook Homing Instinct in Fall 2026.
