Heart of Teaching wins Independent Publisher Book Award

May 9, 2008

Waterloo author John Fioravanti has been awarded a Bronze medal from the international Independent Publisher Book Awards for his 2007 work, A Personal Journey to the Heart of Teaching. 

Released by Waterloo’s Iceberg Publishing last fall, Journey is Fioravanti’s reflection upon more than thirty years teaching secondary school in Waterloo region. Its Bronze medal came in the category of Best Regional Non-Fiction: Canada East. 

“This is a very prestigious award, and a great honor,” says Kenneth Tam, a partner in Iceberg Publishing, and one of Fioravanti’s former students. “Journey has been moving from strength to strength since its launch, and has helped many teachers and aspiring teachers across Canada. This award elevates it to a new level of success.” 

Fioravanti was surprised and honored by the award, “It is a great and humbling honor for me. I set out to talk about my experiences in hopes of helping other teachers with their own struggles in the classroom. This recognition is beyond anything I’d ever hoped for!” 

The Independent Publisher Book Awards, or IPPY Awards, are in their twelfth year, and recognize excellence in independent publishing. Autonomous publishing houses releasing fewer than fifty titles per year compete, along with university presses. This year saw more than 3,000 entries from sixteen countries around the world –– including submissions from nine provinces across Canada. The awards are officially presented on May 30th in Los Angeles, California. 

This is the first writing award for John Fioravanti, who is presently teaching his thirty-fifth year at St. David Catholic Secondary School in Waterloo. Already the author of two books, he will be retiring at the end of this school year with plans to continue writing. He is already at work on a series of fiction novels.