BIO

Barb Howard is a multi-genre author who has published five books of literary fiction and more than 50 short stories and essays in magazines, journals, and anthologies across Canada. Barb’s writing has won the Howard O’Hagan Award for short story and The Canadian Authors' Association Exporting Alberta Award. Her work has been shortlisted for an international High Plains Book Award, the Alberta Trade Fiction Book of the Year, and several Alberta Literary Awards.

An active member of the provincial and Mohkinsstsis/Calgary writing communities, Barb has been President of the Writers' Guild of Alberta, Writer-in-Residence for the Calgary Public Library, editor of FreeFall Magazine, and a board member for Calgary Arts Development. Her experience as a writing mentor includes the 2024 Immigrant Council for Arts Innovation program for newcomer professional artists, the 2021 Own Voices Alberta mentorship program for emerging BIPOC writers, and four years as a writing mentor with The Shoe Project — a literacy and performance workshop for immigrant women.

Barb has taught Creative Writing at the University of Calgary, the Alexandra Writers’ Centre, and the Banff Centre. Her formal post-secondary education consists of a Bachelor of Arts (Canadian Literature) from the University of British Columbia, a law degree from Dalhousie University, and a Master of Arts (Creative Writing) from the University of Calgary. She regularly hikes, bikes, paddles and skis — and tries to pass these activities off as research for her writing projects.

For more on Barb check out the 2023 Calgary Guardian article A Day in the Life of Barb Howard, or her 2017 essay in BioStories Magazine Law Story  (page 132), or her 2023 YouTube interview with Shawn the Book Maniac, or her 2022 interview on Rob Mclennan’s blog