Amanda Davis (writer)

Amanda Davis (February 28, 1971 – March 14, 2003) was an American writer and teacher who died in a plane accident.

Early life
Amanda Davis was born on February 28, 1971, in Durham, North Carolina. Davis graduated from Charles E. Jordan High School and received a B.A. in theatre at Wesleyan University as well as a M.F.A. in fiction at Brooklyn College.

Career
In 1999, Davis published a series of short stories called Circling the Drain. The collection was reviewed in various newspapers including The New York Times and Los Angeles Times as well as the website Salon. In the Los Angeles Times, critic Mark Rozzo wrote, "At their best, Davis' stories are potent miniatures about the weird demands that uncertainty and inevitability place upon people, mostly young women linked to men or situations seemingly beyond their control."

Davis' short story, "Louisiana Loses Its Cricket Hum", was featured in the 2001 edition of Best New American Voices. Four days prior to her death, Davis interviewed with Dawn Dreyer of Indy Week regarding her life and career. Furthermore, according to Michael Chabon, Davis planned to write a second novel, either a historical novel about "early Jewish immigrants to the South" or a "creepy modern gothic".

Outside of writing, Davis taught undergraduate and graduate fiction at Mills College.

Personal life
Davis was Jewish. She had one brother, Adam, and one sister, Joanna.

Death
On March 14, 2003, while touring for her first novel, Wonder When You′ll Miss Me, Davis was in a Cessna 177 Cardinal being piloted by her father, James Davis. 18 miles from the Asheville Regional Airport, the plane crashed on Old Fort Mountain in McDowell County, North Carolina, killing Davis and her parents. After her death, several writers paid respects for her, including Heidi Julavits for Poets & Writers Magazine and others on McSweeney's, the same site where Davis' work previously appeared.

Legacy
In honor of Davis' life, McSweeney's introduced an award called the "Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award" in 2004, which awarded women writers 32 years old or younger who embodied "Amanda’s personal strengths—warmth, generosity, a passion for community—and who needs some time to finish a book in progress".