University of British Columbia professor Lawrence Winkler was sitting in his backyard of his Westwood Lake home one day, when he became curious.
“I would sit in an Adirondack chair after working in the garden and I would look around subconsciously ... at what was there and gradually I just started asking questions of what things were and where they came from,” Winkler said.
Eventually, Winkler, who happens to be a doctor in Nanaimo, became curious and started researching about all the plants and animals in his yard and around Westwood Lake.
Nanaimo author Lawrence Winkler.
That research quickly turned into Winkler’s first book called Westwood Lake Chronicles.
“Over time it became an anthem,” he said. “It was something I wrote initially for my wife and I. It was just a snapshot in space and time of what we enjoyed and the nature in the backyard.”
On Saturday (May 9), Winkler, who has written seven other books, will be reading and sharing stories from Westwood Lake Chronicles at the Nanaimo North Library, 6250 Hammond Bay Rd., at 2 p.m.
Westwood Lake Chronicles was originally released on Amazon in 2012, but has since become a paperback after popular demand.
The book is a narrative non-fiction that focuses on the various plant and wildlife in and around Westwood Lake and the dangers they face.
“The book is sort of written in three layers,” Winkler said. “There is a lyrical layer on the bottom, there is kind of a scientific filling and there is a philosophical top strata.”
Although Westwood Lake Chronicles was released in 2012, Winkler says it was the first book he ever wrote. His other books include Between the Cartwheels and Samurai Road.
For more information on Winkler, please visit www.lawrencewinkler.com.
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