The loss of several parents to cancer at the small rural school where she works led teacher-librarian Virginia Bruckner to write Gifts from the Heart as a fundraiser for cancer research. More than 20,000 copies were reputedly sold without a publisher or distributor and $98,500 was raised for cancer research. Bruckner received the Canadian Cancer Society's Community Champion Award for her work. A publisher from Toronto learned about her success and called with a contract. Thereafter an extensively revised and expanded edition of her book became available as Gifts from the Heart: Simple Ways to Make Your Family's Christmas More Meaningful (Insomniac Press, $19.95 2006). She ends by quoting Aesop: "No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." Royalties from the new edition continue to support the Canadian Cancer Society's Research Program.

Born in Vancouver in November of 1953, Virginia Bruckner is a member of WAVE, a writers' co-operative on Vancouver Island, and enjoys presenting marketing ideas in workshops for self-publishers while working on a companion book, Gifts from the Heart Throughout the Year.

BOOKS:

Gifts from the Heart: Simple Ways to Make Your Family's Christmas More Meaningful, Insomniac Press, 2006. 1-897178-30-1.

[BCBW 2006] "Advice"