About

Amanda Kay Oaks is a contributing writer at Screen Rant and Bonus Action. She also runs an indie book blog, Your Book Friend. Amanda holds a BFA in Creative Writing/BA in Literature from The University of Evansville and an MFA in Creative Writing: Nonfiction from Chatham University, with a concentration in pedagogy.

Amanda’s niches include books, gaming, witchcraft, chronic pain, and pop culture. Bylines include ScreenRant, ComicBook.com, The Escapist, Bonus Action, and Book Riot, among others. Her personal essays have appeared in bonfire(s), The Longridge Review, Golden Walkman Magazine, and others. Scholarly work has appeared in The Hemingway Review.

Amanda lives on a farm just outside of Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and their cattle dog, Azula. In her spare time, she can be found reading, doing yoga, playing video games, baking, or throwing some dice with her friends playing Pathfinder.

Contact: amandakayoaks@gmail.com

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Current Projects

Personal Writing Projects

Your Book Friend

Home to casual, conversational reviews, this blog is a space for chatting about books like you would with your pals. Check us out at Your Book Friend.

Medium

I write about books, chronic illness, pop culture, and the occasional humor essay on Medium. You can find my work and follow me here.

Amanda Reads (On HIATUS)

A free, casual weekly newsletter where I gave some general life updates and talked about work as a freelance writer. Currently on hiatus, but you can follow along at Amanda Reads.

Freelance Writer, Upwork

I offer my services through Upwork, where I have worked with clients such as Countdown to Magic to produce quality written content.

Writing For…

Screen Rant

In October 2026, Amanda joined the Screen Rant team as a contributing writer in the Books vertical. She primarily covers fantasy and sci-fi, with a focus on features and lists.

Bonus Action

As a founding contributing writer at Bonus Action, Amanda writes about books and gaming. Her work includes video game guides for games like Magical Delicacy and Rolling Hills: Make Sushi Make Friends and book recommendation lists.

Previous Projects

Reader, The Fourth River

Out of Chatham University’s MFA program, The Fourth River is a literary journal dedicated to explorations of nature and place through poetry, nonfiction, and fiction. Amanda is one of the readers and copyeditors on staff for the 2020 issue.

Contest Judge: The Fourth River Into the Light Writing Contest: The Stuart H. Hunt Memorial Award 2019 & 2020

In conjunction with The Chatham University Out of the Darkness Walk for Suicide Prevention, the Chatham MFA program and The Fourth River will sponsor a creative writing contest in honor of Stuart H. Hunt, a fiction writer and graduate of the Chatham MFA program who lost his life to suicide in January, 2019.

ComicBook.com

From November 2024-September 2026, Amanda wrote about all things video games and TTRPGs at ComicBook. She specialized in a mix of news and features coverage, with niches in Pokemon, cozy gaming, and RPGs.

The escapist

From 2024 to early 2025, Amanda was a contributing freelance writer at The Escapist, a pop-culture site dedicated to all forms of escapist media, including video games, TV, and movies.

SDE101 Instructor, Chatham UNIVERSITY, Fall Semesters 2018-2023

This course prepares incoming college students with foundational skills to succeed in college. For Fall 2022, I served as a member of the syllabus development team to update and revise the course for the upcoming semester. In Fall 2023, I will return as an adjunct to teach two sections.

ENG105 Instructor, Chatham University, Fall 2022, Fall 2021, Fall 2020, Fall 2019, Spring 2019, Fall 2018

The introductory English Composition Course ENG105 teaches foundational writing skills to ensure students go into their education prepared to write at the college level. Amanda’s course topic is Superheroes: Origins, Evolution, and Cultural Implications. The Fall 2020 course was delivered in a hybrid mode.

Running into Joy

A self-care and fitness blog focused on running into joy wherever we can! Running Into Joy. was a passion project born of a love for running, gratitude, yoga, and baking! The blog is on indefinite hiatus while I focus on other projects.

The Meal Kit Review

From 2024 to 2025, Amanda was a contributing writer for The Meal Kit Review, where she covered food-related topics. In addition to kitchen tips and nutrition guidance, she reviewed meal kits for the site.