Amanda
Barusch
Charting by a New Star
Across fiction, essays, and scholarship, Amanda Barusch explores how we age, remember, belong, and become.
The Work
Two bodies of work. One set of questions.
Scholarship
Narrative nonfiction focused on aging, identity, justice, and social change.
Literature
Fiction and creative work shaped by memory, place, longing, and transformation.
Born to a Sailor in the Desert
Amanda has worked as a janitor, exotic dancer, matchmaker, and professor. She’s hiked thousands of paths and written about a few.
In 2025, Amanda founded Yawning Fox Press, an independent literary press exploring the space between the human and the wild.
Selected Honors
Selected Appearances
Charted Works
Selected books from three decades of inquiry into how we age, relate, endure, and evolve.
2024
Fear of anger can ultimately be as destructive as expressed rage. Learn how to harness its energy and wisdom for personal and social change.
2008
An exploration of romantic love in the lives of seniors, drawing on personal narratives and offering practical tools for relationship-building.
1994
A unique gerontological study of older women in poverty based on personal narratives that move and inspire.
On the Horizon
For Grandparents Only
In Development
A candid look at grandparenting in turbulent times: fierce love, difficult conflicts, painful distance, unexpected grace, and truths the greeting cards leave out.
Radio Lost & Found
In Development
In 1972, Barstow, Jolene’s escape to Alaska is interrupted by a missing child, a haunted radio host, and stories that refuse silence.
Field Notes
Two ongoing streams of writing.
Aging to Perfection
Exploring the intersections of aging, justice, and narrative through scholarly inquiry and personal reflection.
Swagger & Ink
Stories that traverse the landscapes of womanhood, aging, and the American West, where grit meets grace.
Dispatches
News, appearances, and announcements.
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