Susan Barba is the author of the poetry collections Fair Sun and geode, which was a finalist for the New England Book Awards and the Massachusetts Book Awards. She is a co-editor, with Victoria Rowe, of I Want to Live: Poems of Shushanik Kurghinian, and the editor of American Wildflowers: A Literary Field Guide, illustrated by Leanne Shapton, which won the 2023 American Horticultural Society Book Award. Her poems and prose have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, Poetry, The New Republic, PN Review, and elsewhere. She earned her doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard University and works as a senior editor for New York Review Books.
While at MacDowell in 2016, Barba completed Fair Sun and wrote a long poem titled "Micellae" and began work towards a new book. In 2018, Barba made significant progress towards the completion of a poetry manuscript. During her 2026 residency, she worked on her third book of poetry. Through writing and extensive revision, she made significant progress on the manuscript. She will be in residence at the Eliot House in Gloucester, MA, in June and hopes to complete her book manuscript then.
Susan Barba
Fellow Works Supported by MacDowell
Fair Sun (Book)
Studios
Barnard
Susan Barba worked in the Barnard studio.
Originally built near the Lower House (a building since demolished) at MacDowell's Union Street entrance, Barnard Studio was funded by Barnard College music students. It was re-located to its current site in 1910. When the small structure was moved, its size was doubled with the addition of a second room…