2026 GECRC Literary Event Fundraiser Featuring 'Heartwood' Author Amity Gaige
Author Amity Gaige Shares her Best Selling Novel Heartwood at Glen Ellyn
Children’s Resource Center’s Annual Literary Event Fundraiser
GLEN ELLYN, IL, February 9, 2026 — The Glen Ellyn Children’s Resource Center (GECRC)
welcomes The New York Times best-selling author Amity Gaige to its annual Literary Event
Fundraiser, held on Thursday, April 30, 2026 at Arrowhead Golf Club in Wheaton. Proceeds will
support GECRC’s efforts to empower nearly 300 under-resourced children living in the greater
Glen Ellyn community to realize their full potential through after-school and summer tutoring and
mentoring programs. The event is held in partnership with The Bookstore of Glen Ellyn and
supported by the generosity from many loyal businesses and community partners in Glen Ellyn
and Wheaton.
“We are delighted to welcome Amity Gaige, author of The New York Times' bestselling novel
Heartwood as our featured author at GECRC’s 2026 Literary Event, held once again at
Arrowhead Golf Club,” says Sarah O’Donnell, GECRC Executive Director. "We’re looking
forward to an engaging evening as Ms. Gaige discusses her critically acclaimed novel
Heartwood in an insightful Q&A format led by The Bookstore of Glen Ellyn owner Shannon
Burgess.”
Heartwood has been called “the best thriller of the year” by The Boston Globe, and was named
a Best Book of 2025 by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New York Public
Library, Audible, She Reads, Goodreads, Vulture and NPR. Heartwood has been described as
“gratifying as a daffodil at the end of a long winter” (The New York Times) and “a terrifically
moving and tense thriller… genius” (The Washington Post). Gaige is also the author of similarly
lauded novels Sea Wife, Schroder, O My Darling, and The Folded World.
Tickets are $80 in advance or $90 at the door. A $95 bundle of a ticket and a discounted
paperback copy of Heartwood is available from The Bookstore in Glen Ellyn. Tickets include
light bites, two drink tickets, and an abundance of literary-loving friends. Guests are welcome to
purchase additional drink tickets and raffle tickets for amazing curated baskets from book clubs
and favorite local businesses. The event takes place on Thursday, April 30, 2026 starting at
6:30pm at Arrowhead Golf Club, 26W151 Butterfield Rd, Wheaton, IL. Tickets can be purchased
online now at https://literary26gecrc.givesmart.com/ or www.gecrc.com , or in-person at The
Bookstore, 475 N. Main St., Glen Ellyn, IL. All proceeds will benefit GECRC.
