Bio

Amy Barker was born in 1978 on Queensland’s Gold Coast.

Amy had a nomadic and often difficult childhood, changing schools nine times and spending a number of years in housing commission. Her life changed dramatically when at thirteen she read The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton), which inspired her to run away from home; she was made a ward of the state and placed in the care of her grandparents.

Amy excelled in school and won scholarships to attend university where she began a Bachelor of Arts/Laws but instead graduated with degrees in both Literature and Creative Writing. She was the recipient of a Varuna Award for Manuscript Development, attending the Creative Director’s masterclass, and was selected for a residency at the Tyrone Guthrie Centre for professional creative artists, at Annaghmakerrig in Ireland.

Amy leads the Australia Council for the Arts funded Remix My Lit project and was Editor of Through the Clock’s Workings, the world’s first remixed/remixable literature anthology, published by Sydney University Press.

Her award-winning debut novel Omega Park was published by University of Queensland Press (UQP) in August 2009.

Amy now writes full-time and is currently at work on her new novel, Paradise Earth, set on the Tasman Peninsula where she spent a formative stage of her childhood and lost a former classmate in the Port Arthur massacre.

Amy is a vegan and passionate animal rights advocate and lives in Brisbane with her husband and rescued cats.

She can be contacted at amy[AT]amybarkeronline.com