Biography

Anne C. Barnhill was born in Morganton, North Carolina, a small town nestled in the Appalachian foothills. Her father, Dr. Jack Clinard, is a former minister of music and college professor. Her mother, Virginia Ballard Clinard, is a former school teacher and award-winning baker. From her father, Anne learned to love music and the wonderful sounds of language. From her mother, she learned to love a good story. Anne's only sibling, Rebecca, is six years younger and lives in a group home in North Carolina. Becky is autistic and she enjoys lunch with Anne every Friday. Becky is also fond of visiting bookstores and renting movies.

Though Anne was born in the mountains, it wasn't until she moved to West Virginia at age six that she really developed her love for the hills and valleys of the Alleghenies, the winding rivers and babbling creeks that carved places in her heart as well as waterways to low lying ground. Her family camped frequently and Anne was never happier than when sitting around a campfire, the sheltering trees keeping watch, the stars winking and the busy moon creaming the night sky.

Anne discovered her love of writing at an early age, crafting horrible love poetry at twelve, melodramatic stories at fourteen and passionate essays regarding social issues at eighteen. Even though her early efforts were flawed and raw, it was too late--Anne had been bitten by the terrible and awesome writing bug and her life would never be the same.

She married young, at nineteen and became a mother that same year. Her first born son, Michael, is currently living in Spartanburg, South Carolina with his wife, Emily, and their daughter, Virginia. Michael is a wonderful poet who has been published widely and has a large segment in a collection titled, The Possibility of Language: Seven New Poets. (Writers Club Press/Samizdot Editions) He holds an M.F.A. from the University of Notre Dame.

One year after Michael's birth, Anne again brought forth a son, Jason. Jason and his partner, Kristi Carswell, live in Asheville, North Carolina. Jason is a musician/magician who holds a degree in electronic music from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

One divorce, a move from the West Virginia hills to the North Carolina Piedmont, a remarriage to Frank Barnhill, and seven years later, Anne gave birth to yet another son, Adam Barnhill who is an artist currently living in Greensboro, North Carolina. Her second marriage to Frank has been one of deep satisfaction and joy for twenty-five years.

After her move to North Carolina, Anne helped support her family for fifteen years by teaching high school Engish. It was not a love match. During the entire stint as a public school teacher, Anne tried to write, concentrating on poetry because of time limitations. Though some of her poetry has been published, she soon realized she would be a mediocre poet, at best. Her love of narrative was making itself felt and she dreamed of stories while driving the kids to soccer practice, washing dishes, folding clothes and always just before sleep.

Finally, in 1989, Anne decided to pursue her writing full-time. She quit her teaching position and jumped in the writing pool. At first, she thought she would drown, but slowly, her work began to be published and she started making a tiny bit of money from her scribbling. In 1999, she decided it was time to pursue a graduate degree and so she attended the writing program at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where she lived alone for two years and wrote her heart out, earning the MFA in Creative Writing. Here, she was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society and started a memoir.

Currently, Anne teaches writing at Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina. She writes regularly for various newspapers and magazines, including Our State: Down Home in North Carolina. Her work appears in a variety of venues. Most recently, one of her poems was set to music by Mae Trimble, a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and performed at the choral Christmas program at UNCG.