I CREATE THE WRITING, GATHERINGS, AND CULTURAL INFRASTRUCTURE BLACK LIFE DESERVES.
Amanda Bennett, Ph.D.
Writer. Public Humanist. Cultural Strategist.
I build worlds with words and people, may they be on the page, in public, or in community. My work lives at the intersection of Black Southern life, cultural memory, and the futures we imagine together.
ROOTED IN THE SOUTH. GUIDED BY LIBERATION. ENLIVENED BY BEAUTY.
COVER STORY · CHAPEL HILL MAGAZINE
In Her Own Words
Featured as Carrboro Poet Laureate, Amanda Bennett, Ph.D. brings poetry into public life, making room for voices too often unheard and creating new spaces for writing, gathering, and collective imagination.
THE WORK
One Tapestry, Many Threads
My work moves across poetry, public humanities, cultural strategy, and intentional community gatherings. Each form offers another way to make critical thinking public, build meaningful ecosystems, and create room for Black imagination.
WRITING
Poetry, essays, criticism, books, and experimental publications rooted in Black feminist Southern memory and the structures of repair that make the future possible.
PUBLIC WORK
Poetry readings, public humanities programs, festivals, writing salons, workshops, and community rituals that turn critical thought into collective experience.
CONSULTING
Working the Roots Studio
I help writers, scholars, and values-driven organizations design the structures, stories, and participation models that bring meaningful work to life. My practice includes public humanities program architecture, equitable participation and resource strategies, grant narrative development, and organizational positioning.
FIELD NOTES
Essays and dispatches from a Black feminist life in motion. Writing toward the place where work, culture, place, and intimacy meet. I weave language strong enough to hold us all.
HAVE SOMETHING TAKING ROOT?
Let’s imagine what it could become.
I collaborate with writers, scholars, cultural workers, and organizations developing meaningful programs, publications, proposals, and gatherings.