Amanda was born in the UK, grew up in Canada, and lived in various cities across North America and the UK. She earned a BA from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, an MA in Creative Writing from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop at the University of Iowa on multiple occasions. In the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, Amanda wrote for newspapers and magazines across Canada and the US. Her bylines appeared on stories covering sports, business, politics, race relations, and a wide range of other topics. Her fiction-sketches, short stories, and a partial novel-features unforgettable characters and vivid depictions of events and situations, all seen through the eyes of a keen observer.