Barbara is a poet and a fiction writer. She was born in Detroit and now lives in Brooklyn. Barbara’s most recent book is Ferne, a Detroit Story, a hybrid biography of her mother. She has published eight collections of poetry and four novels. She is also the editor of The Selected Prose of Bobbie Louise Hawkins (BV), Looking Up Harryette Mullen (Belladonna Series), the editor/writer of Prompt Book: Experiments for Writing Poetry and Fiction (SD, 2021), and was editor and publisher of the poetry/art journal, Long News: In the Short Century (1990-1995). She has taught for MFA programs at Naropa University (2006-2014) and Long Island University where she is Professor Emerita.

Her most recent book, Ferne, a Detroit Story was selected by as a Michigan Notable Book of 2023 by the Library of Michigan.