Barbara’s latest book is Palm Springs Noir (Akashic), which she edited and contributed a story. Writing noir fiction began with the short story, “Crazy for You,” first published in the Akashic anthology, Orange County Noir, later included in USA Noir: Best of the Akashic Noir Series. Her fiction and poetry have been published in Coolest American Stories 2022, CrimeReads, Dark City Crime & Magazine, The Ekphrastic Review, Crossing Borders, Shotgun Honey, The Literary Hatchet, Rock and a Hard Place, Paradigm Shifts, Broad River Review, Serial Magazine, Beach Reads, and The Oyez Review. Her first book, Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller and was honored with an American Society of Journalists and Authors Outstanding Book Award. In November 2023, she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her short story, “Rowboat,” in Kelp Journal.

Her essays and articles have seen print in various publications including LitHub, Inlandia, CrimeReads, The Ocotillo Review, Abstract Expressions, Belle Ombre, Cutbank, The Author’s Guild Bulletin, Beach Reads, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Orange Coast Magazine, Westways, The Los Angeles Times, The Writer, Writer’s Digest, and Poets & Writers.

Barbara is a lecturer at Chapman University’s Dodge Film School, an adjunct professor of Advanced Creative Writing at Saddleback College Emeritus Institute, and instructor at Gotham Writers Workshop (online). She also holds two private workshops. In 1998, she began interviewing authors, agents, and poets on “Writers on Writing,” aired on KUCI-FM. The show is now podcast.

Barbara was recognized with a Distinguished Instructor Award at UC-Irvine and awarded Literary Magnet #1 in Orange Coast Magazine’s Best of Orange County. She is founder of the Pen on Fire Speakers Writers Salon in Corona del Mar, California and in the summer of 2013, began holding writers retreats in Palm Springs. She’s the former president of Sisters in Crime, Orange County chapter, and was the editor of The ASJA Monthly, (the official publication of the American Society of Journalists and Authors), from 2002 to 2014. ASJA awarded her with the Extraordinary Service Award in 2015.

She’s worked a variety of jobs: semi-conductor inspector, Avon lady, auto parts runner, baker, waitress, restaurant manager, crisis intervention counselor, actor in voice over TV, copywriter, and publicist. In grade school she loved spelling bees, and usually won. She’s from Altoona, Pennsylvania, and now lives in Orange County, California. You can connect with her by visiting Substack, her website, or by emailing her.

Marrie Stone has hosted Writers on Writing alongside Barbara DeMarco-Barrett since 2007. She is a freelance writer, editor, instructor, and moderator. Her fiction has appeared or been accepted for publication in Reed Magazine, the Writer's Journal, River Oak Review, Into the Void, Coffin Bell, The Rambler and The Write Launch. Her articles and essays have appeared in several print and online publications including Orange Coast Magazine, Blue Door Magazine, Pelican Hill Magazine, Tableau Magazine and elsewhere. She serves as the weekly arts columnist for Stu News Laguna, and writes for several clients in the educational sector.

Marrie serves as the nonfiction editor for the Third Street Review and has taught the short story form for various community organizations in Laguna Beach. She also regularly moderates panel discussions and conversations relating to the arts and literature, including a quarterly “Evening with an Author” series in Laguna Beach.

Marrie earned her law degree at Loyola Law School of Los Angeles, and her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy at Occidental College. She practiced corporate law for several years.

Marrie lives with her family in Laguna Beach. You can contact her by email, learn more about her work with Writers on Writing in her VoyageLA profile, or visit her website.