Amanda Hale began her writing career as an immigrant in 1970s Montréal. She worked in Toronto during the 1980s, in theatre, the visual arts, and journalism – and moved west in 1989. She has published four novels, two poetry chapbooks, and two collections of short stories set in the village of Baracoa in Cuba, where she was a frequent visitor for many years. Her work has appeared in Canadian & US literary magazines, as well as in numerous Canadian anthologies.

She was awarded the Prism International prize for creative non-fiction for The Death of Pedro Iván; and has twice been a finalist for the Relit Fiction award. She has taught creative writing in colleges and universities across Canada, and has been writer in residence at Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic. Pomegranate marks her entry into the world of opera as librettist for this ground-breaking opera, seeded by her 2007 book of lesbian love poems set in the Villa of Mysteries in ancient Pompeii on the eve of the Vesuvius eruption.

Pomegranate premiered in Toronto in 2019 during Pride Week, and was picked up by the Canadian Opera Company in a co-production with Vancouver Opera, to be completed at the Vancouver Playhouse in August 2024. Bitten by the opera bug, Hale is now working on a new libretto – In the Bardo.