Welcome to Phyllis Barber's website.

I am a writer living in Denver, Colorado. I write about the West, the desert, the Mormons who played a significant role in settling the West and creating the person I’ve become, and about matters of the spirit with its familiar and unfamiliar reaches. I’ve been writing award-winning stories, articles, essays and books for over thirty years, in between being the mother of four sons, teaching creative writing, riding my bicycle, traveling the world, reading a wide spectrum of books and serving as a community volunteer.

My oldest son says to say I’m a “kick ass writer,” which is not my usual way of describing myself, but one that makes me smile, nonetheless. I’m currently working on a book of essays titled Searching for Spirit about my experiences among shamans in Peru and Ecuador, Tibetan Buddhist monks in Lhasa and Sikkim in North India, Baptist congregations in Arkansas and South Carolina, with goddess worshipers in the Yucatan, and at an LDS (Mormon) welfare cannery in Colorado. Several of these essays have been published/accepted for publication by upstreet, Agni Magazine, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, and Sunstone: Mormon Experience, Scholarship, Issues & Art.

My desire as a writer has always been to write words that touch people’s hearts and minds, even as I’ve appreciated written words that have touched my heart and mind and enriched my life. I believe in wrestling with the challenging issues of being alive and often take risks by writing frankly, unblinkingly, about the raw edge of things. I’ve come to believe that writing in a deeply emotional and honest way exposes the connectedness of all of us as human beings.