Meet the award-winning migrant author who fell in love with Bristol

“I wasn’t very impressed by Severn Beach when I first went there, having previously lived in Indonesia and Australia - for us a beach means golden sands."

When Michael Malay, who grew up in Indonesia and Australia, moved to Bristol to study his masters, he thought he would only stay a year. But 15 years later he still lives in the city and has gone on to receive two prestigious literary awards for a book celebrating nature and four of Britain’s unloved animals.

Despite his book, Late Light, recently winning the Wainwright Prize for nature writing and the Richard Jerreries award in 2023 when Michael first arrived in Bristol to study English Literature, he admits knowing almost nothing about nature. It was through a friend he made after arriving in Bristol that he began to discover the hidden world of birdsong in the forests, the chirping crickets of Troopers Hill and, later on, the hidden eels of Severn Beach.

But as a migrant to Britain, Michael says the book is also deeply political and is also about 'migration and the rights of everyone to be here from the perspective of an outsider finding their place’. Michael believes that these aspects of the book, which are explored through his own personal experiences, are particularly important after the summer riots.

Michael, 37, settled with his family in Troopers Hill and said he tried to leave the country on several occasions. He was even almost kicked out due to visa issues but the friends he made and the beauty he discovered in the natural landscape compelled him to stay.

Troopers Hill, which is featured in the book alongside Severn Beach, became a source of inspiration for Michael over the lockdown. He became fascinated with the migrating eels which arrived at Severn Beach after a 3,000 mile journey across the Atlantic from the Bermuda Triangle and drew comparisons between the difficult migrations of these unloved creatures and the hostile environment some of Britain’s politicians were creating for immigrants.

Speaking about his own experiences as an outsider, finding a sense of belonging in a new country, Michael said: “My plan was always to stay in Bristol for a year but something happened here. I met so many interesting people and wonderful and supportive communities and a great teacher.

“One year turned into two and then three and I’ve left Bristol a few times but I just keep on coming back. There’s something about Bristol as a city and the landscape around Bristol as well.

“I was very lucky with the people I met. One person I met soon after moving here is the kind of person who can go into a forest and stop, listen to the bird song and tell you about the seven different species he can hear and where they are singing

“I thought that was a kind of superpower when I first encountered it, but now I’m the annoying person telling my three-year-old daughter, ‘Listen, there’s a song thrush here and a green finch there.’

“Troopers Hill is blooming with grasshoppers and crickets. At first it’s a dry crackle but once you start tuning in you realise they all operate at different radio stations,“ explained Michael who found a new found love for the nature spot on his doorstep after spending prolonged periods of time there.

Like Troopers Hill, he began to fall in love with Severn Beach after discovering the hidden depths of the place, just a short train ride away from his home in East Bristol. “I wasn’t very impressed by Severn Beach when I first went there, having previously lived in Indonesia and Australia - for us a beach means golden sands.

“I think it’s a really interesting place and the Severn has a big eel river. Millions of eels come up the river who have just finished a 3,000 mile journey. Eels find it really difficult to get into Britain because of the damp and hydro power stations in their way - it made me think about hostile architecture like the spikes on benches, which made me think of the hostility towards those classed as outsiders.

“I was thinking a lot about something Theresa May had said at the time, that she wanted to make Britain a hostile environment for immigrants. In my mind a connection formed in my mind which ended up forming a key thread throughout the book.”