Nigel Hey

Nigel Hey, author of Wonderment, says his greatest compliment as a writer came from a reviewer who remarked that his prose “can turn the rigors of joy or sadness into jewels of curiosity and adventure.” Another favorite comment came from a man who lives in Honolulu. Reading this book, he wrote, was “something that will help me become a better writer and a better person.”

And there is a third, from a retired publisher who lives in suburban London: “Wonderment is the book of a restless seeker of knowledge who will travel anywhere, meet anyone, and read anything that promises to deliver the gift of further enlightenment.”

“Seeing my name on articles and books has ceased to be a novelty,” Nigel says. “But the feeling that you may have inspired a reader, adding something new and perhaps wonderful to his her life – this will never cease to make me glad.”

Nigel has always been a writer. He has a copy of a story he wrote in his home town of Morecambe, England, when he was 9 years old. But he was 11 before he was paid for anything, enjoying the extra frisson of having the check come from the BBC. His mother encouraged him to be a writer because he was a sick child and it looked as though he would be shackled to a sedentary life. It was the money that convinced him, even at that age, that writing was a good career path. But he says he loved to share the stories and observations of his young life.

Nigel and his parents moved to the States, looking for a climate that would be easier for a kid with asthma, and ended up as a teenager in Utah. He multi-tasked as a part-time printer’s devil, reporter, and proof-reader for a small weekly newspaper at age 14, wrote children’s columns for three weeklies at 15, then got his degree in journalism and escaped to fulltime newspaper jobs in Bermuda and England. Eventually he moved to New Mexico, working as a science writer for a very large and creative organization, Sandia National Laboratories. Then he became a media consultant and independent writer.

Wonderment is his sixth book. He lives nine months a year in New Mexico and three months in England, and enjoys the company of his wife Dee, three children, two grandchildren, and a fine son-in-law. He says he benefited in many ways from insights and guidance provided by his mother and father.

When asked why he decided to be a journalist, or a writer, he says it is simply because he is curious, and that being more specific would tie him down to a too-narrow field. Writing, and the observation and research that support it, satisfy his curiosity while filling him with even more wonder. He says that over the years he has learned the special-ness of observing his natural environment one-on-one, absorbing the experience until he all but forgets that he is in the picture too. This is why he named his memoir Wonderment, and wants to share his experiences with his readers.

Here’s the best part. In Nigel’s mind the generation and fulfillment of what he calls wonderment, and knowing and appreciating friends and family -- and internalizing the immeasurable greatness of these things -- create something indescribably special. As he grew older this awareness gradually and gently led him to greater enlightenment and internal enrichment. He realized that if he could talk about this, or write about it, he could hope to pass along a spark of new awareness to others. Then they have the opportunity to add their own energy to that spark, and to know and spread the magic of wonderment.

When asked if there was a word, phrase or quotation that he particularly liked, he smiled and quoted from Stewart Brand: “We are as gods and might as well get good at it.”