A WELLINGTON book club has hosted the acclaimed writer and 2024 Wainwright Prize winner, Michael Malay for their most recent bi-monthly gathering.

Organised by Sue Rickard and Stewart Hill, Transition Town Wellington’s Bookworms group gathered for an evening with Michael Malay and his book Late Light on Wednesday, March 19.

Michael discovered Bookworms through his friend Anita Roy, chair of Transition Town Wellington, the town’s resident environmental group, working to improve Wellington’s landscapes for the future.

Michael said: “It's a wonderful thing that Bookworms exists.

“TTW's members are working hard to nourish the land, and to give back to the places that have supported and nourished them, and the book club makes me realise that the imagination is central to the Transition Town movement.”

The author’s book Late Light was named the winner of the Wainwright Prize for 2024, a literary prize awarded for the best work on the outdoors, nature or UK travel writing.

In line with his passion for writing, Michael also works as a senior lecturer of English Literature at the University of Bristol where he teaches classic texts alongside poetry and environmental literature.

“One of the great joys of my work is gathering around a text with others, and the powerful silence that emerges when ten minds concentrate on particular passage; in that silence is a kind of shared concentration, a shared energy, and what follows, through conversation and debate, is a growing of that silence into different opinions, ideas, perspectives, which is the natural product of everyone bringing their own experiences and worldviews to a text.

“But really, I just enjoy these kinds of encounters-- speaking to people, learning from them, and gathering around a text together.”

Bookworms meet every other month. To find out more, contact Sue Rickard at [email protected] or on 07896 031236.