Barbara Curry Mulcahy was born in Trinidad to American parents. She grew up in the US and in diplomatic communities in India, Greece, and Israel. At the age of 18. she came to Canada.
Barbara attended the University of Victoria and then UBC, where she graduated with a BFA in Creative Writing. Inspired by the back-to-the-land movement, Barbara, her husband Mike, and their infant son moved on to 160 acres in northern Alberta. Two more children were born and Barbara and Mike did various jobs, sometimes sharing positions, to support the family. Barbara was a school bus driver, librarian, rural mail carrier, health promotion facilitator, teacher’s aide, and ESL and Literacy instructor. In 2012, with their children grown and gone, Barbara and Mike moved to Slocan, a small village in BC’s Kootenays.