Lake Agassiz book launch a success

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Published on Friday, November 3, 2017

By Eoin Devereux
Neepawa Banner & Press

Writing about the history of a long forgotten glacial lake can be hard; making it actually interesting can be even harder. But if the recent capacity crowd, which filled the foyer of the Beautiful Plains Museum in Neepawa was any indication, Bill Redekop has found a way.

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, the prominent Winnipeg based author hosted the rural book launch for Lake Agassiz: The Rise and Demise of the World’s Greatest Lake. The book looks at the history of what was the world’s largest lake, which was located on a large portion of what is now Manitoba, northern Ontario, Minnesota and North Dakota.

As part of the Neepawa launch, Redekop read some excerpts of his work and answered questions from the audience. After the event concluded, Redekop noted that both he and his publishers were quite happy with how receptive the early response has been.

“This was a fantastic group. When you hold events like [a book launch], you always wonder how many people are going to be there, but the reception we received here was fantastic. There was a great turnout here at the Museum, as well as in Brandon [on Oct. 24], and the people were so appreciative and so interested in the story. It was a chance for me to find out that there is an interest in the subject matter. When I started this, I didn’t know that. I didn’t know people would be interested and even buy the book. I started out assuming no one’s going to buy this book, but I’m going to write it anyway,” said Redekop.

During the research stage, which Redekop began three years ago, he discovered that there was a fascinating story behind all the science of Manitoba’s geographic history. From there, he surmised that taking a laymen’s approach to examining the history and sharing the mysteries of Lake Agassiz would make it more accessible to the average reader.

Now that the hard work is done, Redekop noted that these types of session with the public are “The fun part of the process.”

Copies of Lake Agassiz: The Rise and Demise of the World’s Largest Lake, can be found in Neepawa at Harris Pharmacy.