Biography

Amanda Haynes is a Bajan freelance writer and creative consultant. Raised in St. George and St. Philip, she draws on Caribbean cultural thought, local folklore and lived experience in her work. She writes fiction and nonfiction.

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Having served on boards including the National Cultural Foundation (Barbados) and Kingston Creative (Jamaica), Amanda is currently focused on literary work and freelance consulting for governments, companies and social organisations. She has worked in leadership roles across media, international development and philanthropy, spanning from chief executive to creative director (copywriting).

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Amanda's literary work was selected for the PREE Writing Studio (Fiction) and shortlisted for the Bocas Emerging Writers Fellowship in 2025. A recipient of the 2019 Cropper Foundation Caribbean Writers Residency (Fiction), she was awarded a Special Mention by the Frank Collymore Literary Endowment Award for her unpublished novella, The Ups and Downs of Dessa Darling.

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An alumna of the University of Warwick (MA, International Cultural Policy and Management) and the University of the West Indies (BA, Literatures in English), her writing has appeared in Small Axe, PREE, Burnaway, and other publications.

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Amanda was selected for the Organisation of American States (OAS) Scholarship in 2014/15 and was awarded the Cora Waldron Scholarship in 2008.