Bonnie E. Virag

BONNIE VIRAG was born in 1936 in the small town of Simcoe, Ontario, Canada. She comes from a family of eighteen children. One summer day a big black car pulls into their rural home and quickly snatch her and her four year old twin sister along with another set of twin sisters, age six and a brother age nine and speed away with them. They would watch in horror through the back window as their teen-age sister chases the car down the road with an axe. Bonnie and her twin sister would enter seven different foster homes. Their lives would intersect with their older sister's throughout the next fourteen years, as they became permanent fixtures and collateral damage of the foster care system.

Sisterly love, as well as their will to survive would get them through these tumultuous years.

Married at the age of 19 Bonnie and her husband would emigrate to the United States where she would enroll in the Academy of Nvart to secure a degree in Fashion Design. After years in this industry, failed hand surgery would necessitate the closing of her business. It was while using her typewriter for hand therapy, she decided to write her memoir of life in the foster care system. Her memoir, THE STOVEPIPE, was released in October 2011 and after its release she was united with five siblings born after she was put in foster care.

While Bonnie may have grown up in a small town this book is no small feat. Her story has received national acclaim. The Stovepipe was awarded a Kirkus Star and designated as Kirkus Reviews Best of 2012, nonfiction book. It was also awarded Best Autobiography of 2012 by Michigan Press Women's Association.

To learn more please visit www.bonnievirag.com