University of Regina, Burnard attended one of the reading sessions by another Canadian novelist, Marian Engel, which inspired her to write. Engel had visited Regina to read from her the Governor-General's Literary Award-winning novel, Bear. Canadian poet and novelist Ken Mitchell suggested she attend the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts. Her first published work was a short story published simultaneously in Saskatchewan Gold and the NeWest Review. In 1983, Oberon Press published her short stories in Coming Attractions. Stories By Sharon Butala, Bonnie Burnard & Sharon Sparling. She edited the 1986 book The Old Dance: Love Stories of One Kind or Another published by Thunder Creek Publishing Co-operative. In 1988, her first individually authored short story collection Women of Influence was published. The collection was later translated into French as Femmes d'Influence by S. Brault in 1995. Her second short story collection Casino & Other Stories was published in 1994 and won several awards. In 1995, she edited another book Stag Line: Stories by Men. Her short stories were included in many anthologies, among these: Best Canadian Stories (1984, 1989, 1992), Saskatchewan Gold (1982), Double Bond (1984), More Saskatchewan Gold (1984), Sky High (1988), Last Map (1989), Soho Square 111: Bloomsbury (1990), Canadian Short Stories (1991), Worlds Unrealized (1991), Beyond Borders (1992), Kitchen Talk (1992), Lodestone (1993), The Second Gates of Paradise: Anthology of Erotic Short Fiction (1994), Writing from Canada (1994), Spin on 2 (1995), The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories (1995), Arnold Anthology of Post-Colonial Literature (1996), Desde El Invierno (1996), The Best of NeWest (1996), Mothers and Daughters (1997), Penguin Anthology of Stories by Canadian Women (1997), Sunrise to Sunset (1997), Desire (1999) Oxford Stories by Canadian Women (1999), Turn of the Story (1999) Dropped Threads (2001), Donde Es Aqui? (2002), Notes from Home (2002), and Short Fiction by Oxford University (2003). Burnard's first novel A Good House was published in 1999. The novel received wide acclaim and was an international success. It was a #1 bestseller in Canada. Four editions of the novel were published in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and in twelve other countries from 1999 to 2002. Her second novel Suddenly was published after ten years in 2009. Awards Burnard won several awards for her literary work. Her first individual short story collection Women of Influence received the Commonwealth Best First Book Award in 1989. Her second short