Ian BurnsIan is the fourth generation in his family to become a published author, his maternal grandfather, Bernard Capes, and Bernard's sister Harriet Capes, son and uncle, preceding him. His writing began in secondary school, extending into comedy sketches nd lyrics for the stage. The catalyst for fiction writing was a story a colleague told him about a bunch of kids riding home on the back of a huge horse, which insisted on walking through a dam! This led to his first book, Scratcher (1987), published by Heinemann. Ian has many years' experience in education, project development and management, media concepts and production, and business and creative writing. Academic awards: B. Comm., B. Ed., M, Ed. Admin. (Merit), TPTC. He formerly headed TAFE Victoria's curriculum research & development function (after many years primary, secondary, and TAFE teaching), and has various publications (including two Australian Country Papers for international UNESCO conferences, and the first report into computer based training in Australia). He was one of the group that produced the I am Australian television campaign (Australia's most successful social marketing campaign), project managed Employ Australia (which involved virtually every Rotary Club in Australia in a major 'grassroots' employment creation program, and The Drum on Business. He was also responsible for a television promotion across Asia for a number of TAFE institutes (Asian Media Bridge), and wrote and produced a major television 'community commercial' for the Australian Multicultural Foundation: Australia - the greatest World in the Country, as well as producing a CD-ROM on what makes Australians Australian for the same organisation's Centenary of Federation-funded project. He is presently Chairman of Greybold Investing Pty Ltd, developing an online mixed reality virtual world to help children's personal development. Ian is active in his local community, having being involved in Scouting for more than thirty years, founded a Friends group and is an active member of another, was President of a badminton association for seven years, and has arranged for a group of family and friends to provide long-term support to third-world rural folk seeking financial assistance to grow their businesses (www.kiva.org) . He received a Commonwealth Community Australia Day Award in 2006. He has three adult children and nine grandchildren (two adopted from India). Read More Read Less