Born in 1957 of Canadian parents, I have lived most of my life in Ottawa. In 1974 – I was an athletic teenager then, with dreams to match – I became paralyzed due to a diving accident. Everything that had given meaning to my life was now impossible, a thing of the past confined to memories. Depression took hold of me and did not release its grip for many years until I grew so disgusted with this constraint and put up such a struggle that I broke free from it. Before that turning point, I had written some gloomy poems that fed on this depression and relieved it somewhat, not enough. I needed a reason for living that was not limited to the satisfaction I could derive from writing well about suffering and death, the latter regarded as the ultimate escape, away from this suffering. I needed wisdom, an outlook on life that would be favorable to happiness. And this need turned my vocation as a poet into a vocation as a thinker with a positive message to convey, one that could enlighten and cheer readers, rather than oppress them with gloom.

The book "A Reason for Living" by Laurent Grenier
"A Reason for Living" is Laurent Grenier’s extremely moving story of his triumph over a disabling injury as he found meaning in life despite everything. Part autobiography, part philosophical essay, "A Reason for Living" looks back on the author’s past – his active, athletic youth abruptly interrupted by his diving accident, which left him a near quadriplegic and led to further hardships – and shows us the way to fulfillment against great odds through the courageous pursuit of wisdom and happiness.

"My diving accident was a misfortune that deprived me extensively of my life’s meaning. It was also a chance to discover a deeper and truer reason for living. Why live? See what my answer is. I trust it will help you live a more meaningful and fulfilling life." L. G.

At the ripe age of 48, after living much of the last quarter-century like a studious and contemplative monk striving to make an enlightening and uplifting difference through writing, I am eager to develop a personal and beneficial relationship with my readers to the extent of my abilities and their willingness to seek my counsel. I am coming out of my ivory tower and reaching out to people in a new concrete way.