Biography

Amanda Read

Amanda Read is a novelist, short story writer, and a lapsed botanist.

Her removal from school before final exams sowed the seed for a later thirst for learning. Awarded a fellowship from the Royal Horticultural Society, she trained as a plant taxonomist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Natural History Museum, London, and the University of Reading. Amanda holds an MA in creative writing from Bath Spa University, with distinction.

Bristol-born Amanda thrived in Athens, Rotterdam and London, before settling in her natural habitat of the rural South West of England. Amanda may be spotted in her garden, or in the surrounding fields and woodland, hot on the heels of Carlos and Carmen, the border terriers.

She works as an agricultural research programme manager for international development. When not writing or working, she reads for the Bath Short Story Award, and reviews books and writerly events.

Her writing influences include H Rider Haggard, Angela Carter and Helen Oyeyemi. She is also in thrall to the real plant hunters of old, such as Robert Fortune, George Forrest, and the naturalists Alfred Russel Wallace and Charles Darwin.

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