Earl Large, known for building homes and shopping centres and as computer data pioneer for decades on Vancouver Island, has long been a closet poet.
So last year, the 87-year-old collaborated with artists around the world to finally publish 40 years of his thoughts and musings, resulting in Living Large, The Coffee Table Book that will Change Your Life, a 225-page collection he describes as words of encouragement and contemplation.
Large published 12,000 copies and has sold most of them through Amazon and other online portals, but now wants to give 3,000 copies away to the people of the Victoria in the spirit of the holidays and a way of saying thank you to the community that’s supported him over the years.
“When I turned 40, to keep me sane, I started writing a poem on the first day of every month,” says Large. “And I finally thought ‘why don’t I put them into a book?’ I can tell you that it was fun to put together.
“Poetry was a way to pull my mind away from the pressure of business and my mind helped me develop a happy place where I could say whatever I wanted in a creative way.”
Large said he always appreciated the arts and particularly international artists using several mediums, so he reached out of social media channels to artists. The result was an outpouring of art from artists around the globe, from Cuba and South Africa to India, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. More than 500 artists submitted works, from which 200 contributed to the book.
Over 10 chapters, Large’s poetic topics range from courage and family to faith, happiness and healing.
“The poems and the journal notes were always meant just for me,” said Large. “I never dreamt that I would share my innermost thoughts with anyone.”
The father of two daughters and a son said his oldest daughter asked him what hew was going to do with all his writings and he “realized the poems had always been written for them and my [seven] grandchildren.
“It’s hard to bare your soul,” said Large. “But when you do, your vulnerability becomes a strength.”
Large is best known as a builder and part of the Large family with his two brothers that built the Country Grocer chain of grocery stores on Vancouver Island and Salt Spring Island.
He’s also been a prolific home and apartment builder and operated one of the city’s first data collection and storage centre businesses, and did upgrades and fixes for networks of computers for all the major computer companies, at one time having 26 branches across B.C.
If you want a free copy of Large’s book, he encourages people to drop by his office during business hours at 607 Vancouver St., at Fairfield Road.
