Copyright 1987 - 2017, Barbara J. Roman. All rights reserved.

​​Author / Illustrator

Barbara J. Roman

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Barbara has been drawing since she was old enough to hold a pencil. Her pictorial world blends boldness with subtlety and detail with gestures of impression. When combined with her insightful and often humorous writing, her works engage the eye, the mind, and the soul, providing encouragement to her readers while holding them with comforting arms. 

Her illustration and writing career began while living in New York City, working with leading book publishers. Soon her career found its way to Hawaii where she broadened her scope to include fine art. Now she is writing, painting, and discovering treasures in the nooks and crannies of an old mining town in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 

Barbara teaches locally, visits schools, libraries, and bookstores across the country, and was formerly the Assistant Regional Advisor for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. She has been distinguished as the first Children’s Book Illustrator to exhibit at Border’s Books, Ward Centre, HI. Her works are in many public and private collections in the United States and abroad.

“Barbara J. Roman’s watercolor and colored pencil works have an intensity about them - it’s not a fluke that ALA Booklist refers to their “magical aura”.  And her choice of material is A-List too.”

- Honolulu Weekly