Barbara Sibbald recently published her fourth novel, Almost English (Bayeux Arts), which was edited and is endorsed by the Canadian best-selling author Diane Schoemperlen. Almost English chronicles a Eurasian man's struggle to overcome British racism in the North-West Frontier of India from 1885 to 1912. Stephen and Lily Turner's story are Barbara's great-grandparents. In bringing their story to life, she discovered a parallel story in her search to belong. She intertwines the fictional retelling of their lives together with her own non-fiction narrative. And so, the book is historical fiction, biography and autobiography.

Barbara is an Ottawa writer, journalist and editor who has  published an award-winning collection of short stories, two print novels and an online novel. Her collection of short fiction, The Museum of Possibilities (The Porcupines Quill, 2017), won gold in the Foreword Indies 2017 Book Awards for short fiction and silver in the eLit Book Awards. Her novel, Regarding Wanda (Bunkhouse Press, 2005), was shortlisted for the Ottawa Book Award. The Book of Love: Guidance in Affairs of the Heart (General Store Publishing House, 2011) was profiled in The Ottawa Citizen and elsewhere.  Kitchen Chronicles (2013/14) was published as an online narrative in 52 installments by Ottawa Magazine (now posted at https://barbarasibbald.com/fiction/). 

Barbara has also co-authored two nonfiction books: the best-selling The Back Forty: Farm Life in the Ottawa Valley (General Store Publishing House, 1990 with photos by Steve Evans); and, Don’t touch that keyboard! How to Prevent Repetitive Strain Injury (Canadian Nurses Association, 1998).

As a journalist (BJ Carleton University, 1983), an article she co-authored received the Canadian Association of Journalists' Investigative Journalism Award (Magazine) in 2005. Her work was also short-listed for the Citation of Merit in the Michener Award for Meritorious Public Service Journalism in both 2004 and 2004. Her articles have also appeared in numerous publications including The Ottawa Citizen, The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star and Ottawa Magazine.

in 2013, she was the Barbara Moon Fellow at Massey College in Toronto where she held weekly workshops in storytelling for health care students and was the editor-in-residence for masters and doctoral students. She has been a judge in the City of Ottawa nonfiction book contest, among others. 

From 1998 to 2024, she worked as an editor and writer for the Canadian Medical Association Journal, most recently as the associate editor of Humanities.