She was born in New York, studied at Yale University, and from 1993 to 1995 reported for the Moscow Times. She then worked for the Philadelphia Inquirer from 1996 to 2000, and for the Boston Globe as Baghdad Bureau Chief and Middle East Bureau Chief from 2003 until 2007, when she joined the New York Times staff. Despite her position, Anne Barnard is not able to read or speak Arabic and cannot report without the aid of a translator.