Amanda is a playwright, poet and essayist. She currently has three poetry collections with Bloodaxe, most recently Fantastic Voyage (2024). Her first full length collection, How to Disappear, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize for Best First Collection and she was chosen as a Next Generation Poet.  In 2022, Smith|Doorstop published a pamphlet of two long poems, Notes on Water, a version of which she re-created for two voices and soundscape for BBC Radio 3’s Between the Ears. 

Amanda writes extensively for BBC Radio 3 and 4 including original drama, poetry-dramas, re-imaginings of silent movies and classic film, lyric essays and adaptations of fiction including the work of Tove Jansson, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, Jackie Kay and Carson McCullers. Her theatre writing also includes text for outdoor and site-specific performance, and work for young people with commissions from Manchester’s Royal Exchange, Sheffield Theatres and Keswick’s Theatre By The Lake. Until 2019 she was a senior leader at the Royal Exchange Theatre where she also worked as an Associate Artist, theatre maker and project director, in partnership with communities, audiences, young people and elders across the North West and beyond. 

Alongside her work as a writer, Amanda has extensive experience as an educator and arts consultant. She designs and delivers a wide range of writing workshops, mentors a number of poets and playwrights, and regularly curates and co-delivers collaborative cross-artform projects most recently with Wainsgate Dances, Manchester Camerata, Quarantine and several individual visual artists and musicians.

Her website is www.amandadalton.co.uk