
Photo Courtesy of Julie Kaplan Photography
“I’ve covered everything from celebrities to terrorism,” says Lisa Barr, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling novelist and journalist. During her tenure as a Jerusalem Post editor, she was just as likely to interview a visiting celebrity as she was to cover a bus bombing.
That experience, along with her personal background as the child of Holocaust survivors, has been key to Barr’s success as a novelist. While holding challenging day jobs as a writer and editor for several Chicago publications, Barr worked on her fiction at night. To date, she has published four books: “Fugitive Colors,” “The Unbreakables,” “Woman on Fire” and most recently, “The Goddess of Warsaw.” Her last two books deal with themes from World War II and Nazi Germany, a topic she finds fascinating and close to her heart.
“My inspiration is my grandmother. She’s the voice in my head. She saw her whole family murdered by the Nazis and taught me how important it is to stand against hatred,” says Barr.
Now writing fiction full time, Barr still pens thought-provoking essays, including a piece for author/podcaster Zibby Owens’ recent collection, “On Being Jewish Now.” And she is a founding member of Artists Against Anti-Semitism, an organization created in response to backlash against Jewish writers in the wake of increased anti-Jewish sentiment worldwide.
Barr credits her storytelling success to her journalism background. “My ability to take a chapter and know the who, what, when, where and why comes from my journalism training.” Research is a huge part of the process as well — an essential skill for any journalist.
These days, she divides her time between her native Chicago and Boca Raton.
“Boca is my happy place. The beauty of being a writer here is that I can get up early and start my day with a walk on the beach. That’s where I work on dialogue; I’m literally on the beach, talking to myself, clearing my head and working out scenes.”
While working on her next novel, Barr is on the second leg of her tour to promote “The Goddess of Warsaw” with several South Florida appearances in the coming months (visit lisabarr.com for details). Like her memorable characters, her determination to live a purposeful life defines her story.