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Barbara Robinette Moss
received an MFA from Drake University, Des Moines,
Iowa, and a BFA from Ringling School of Art &
Design, Sarasota, Florida. She has participated in
over one hundred juried art exhibitions, including
the Los Angeles Printmaking Society Contemporary American
Printmakers and the Museum of American Art Drawing
Midwest. She began writing while in graduate school
at Drake University. She lives in New York City and
Iowa City, Iowa.
In 1996, Barbara won
the gold medal for personal essay in the William Faulkner
Creative Writing Competition, sponsored by The Pirate’s
Alley Faulkner Society, New Orleans, Louisiana. The
winning story, “Near the Center of the Earth,”
became the first chapter for her memoir, Change Me
into Zeus’s Daughter, published by Scribner.
After publication, Barbara won the 2002 Alabama Author
Award for Nonfiction, sponsored by the Alabama Library
Association, and the Iowa Authors Award 2000, sponsored
by the Library Association of Des Moines Foundation.
Change Me into Zeus’s
Daughter has been reviewed by many newspapers, including
The New York Times Book Review, The London Daily Telegraph,
The Chicago Tribune, Atlanta Journal & Constitution,
Birmingham News, The Des Moines Register, The Times
Picayune, and USA Today. Articles have appeared in
People Magazine, Elle, Allure, BiBA, a French magazine
and Biography Magazine. Barbara has been a guest on
All Things Considered, Jackie Lyden, The Gary Robertson
Show, BBC Radio Scotland, The David Rothenburg Show,
WBAI Radio New York, and many others.
Scribner is also publishing
Barbara’s next book, fierce, to be released in
October 2004.
Artist Statement:
"I was born and grew up in the rural
south, moving from small town to small town
in northern Alabama. My mother drew pictures
to entertain her eight children. I declared
myself an artist when I was in the second grade.
Looking back, I realize it was a way to connect
with my mother, a small part of her that one
of my brothers and sisters hadn’t already claimed.
My interest in art and art making lasted long
past the drawings Mother made of paper dolls
and landscapes on scrap cardboard. I’ve always
believed there was an angel watching over me.
As a child of an abusive alcoholic, this belief
was a great comfort. Houses that should have
fallen down, waited patiently until after we
had moved away. Fires that should have burned
our tinderbox house to the ground, charred only
one wall. My brothers and sisters and I walked
through our perilous childhood unscathed. Oh,
yes, there were angels present. Several, I imagine."
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