Some Figs
poetry-collection · First published 2025
Author guide
Anita Barrows Books in Order
Anita Barrows is an American poet, novelist, translator, and clinical psychologist born in Brooklyn in 1947. She has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1966, teaches psychology at the Wright Institute in Berkeley, and maintains a clinical practice. Her poetry includes A Record, Exile, We Are the Hunger, Testimony, If Not Now..., Some Figs, and Sequence Beginning With Tara. With Joanna Macy, she translated several works by Rainer Maria Rilke. Her novel The Language of Birds was published in 2022.
poetryliterary fictionpsychology
Catalog record updated .
Anita Barrows's Newest Book
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
The Language of Birds
Barrows's only published novel and an accessible introduction to her literary fiction.
A Record
An early major poetry collection representing her foundational work.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (1)
- The Language of Birds
novel · 2022
Poetry (7)
- A Record
poetry-collection · 1998
- Exile
poetry-collection · 2015
- We Are the Hunger
poetry-collection · 2018
- Testimony
poetry-collection · 2021
- If Not Now...
poetry-collection · 2022
- Some Figs
poetry-collection · 2025
- Sequence Beginning With Tara
poetry-collection
Frequently asked questions about Anita Barrows
Who is Anita Barrows?
Anita Barrows is an American poet, novelist, translator, and clinical psychologist whose work spans literature and mental-health practice.
Sources: anitabarrows.ink (opens in a new tab)abc.net.au (opens in a new tab)
Where was Anita Barrows born, and where has she lived?
She was born in Brooklyn in 1947 and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1966, apart from three years in London.
What is Anita Barrows’s work as a psychologist?
Barrows maintains a private practice in Berkeley and works with children, adolescents, and adults affected by autism, developmental disabilities, trauma, abuse, and chronic illness. She is also faculty at the Wright Institute, where she earned her clinical psychology doctorate in 1988.
Source: wi.edu (opens in a new tab)
How did Rainer Maria Rilke influence Anita Barrows?
Barrows first read Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet at age 16 and has said its guidance helped shape her development as a poet. She later translated Rilke’s poetry and prose with Joanna Macy.
Sources: abc.net.au (opens in a new tab)anitabarrows.ink (opens in a new tab)
What awards and grants has Anita Barrows received?
Her poetry has received recognition from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ragdale Foundation, the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, the Robinson Jeffers Foundation, the Quarterly Review of Literature, and the Riverstone Press. Penguin Random House specifically notes an NEA grant and the Quarterly Review of Literature’s Contemporary Poetry Award.
Sources: anitabarrows.ink (opens in a new tab)penguinrandomhouse.com (opens in a new tab)