Janice Fitzpatrick was born in Boston in 1954, and grew up in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and Barrington, Rhode Island.
[3] After working at The Frost Place in New Hampshire, she moved to Ireland in 1987 to pursue a doctorate at University College Dublin.
[6] Fitzpatrick Simmons' work has appeared in various anthologies including A Rage for Order, The Backyards of Heaven, The Blackbird's Nest, Salmon: A Journey in Poetry 1981-2007, Female Lines, and Irish American Poets since 1800.
[4] She then was married to fellow poet James Simmons, with whom she has one son, until his death in 2001.
[4] Her later work frequently reflects her experience of her husband's illness and death, as well as her efforts to uphold his legacy.