Nature Writing

JC Niala’s nature writing is reflective and contemplative, blending elements of memoir, cultural history, and environmental observation. She is interested in exploring the complexities of human relationships with nature, including the impact of cultural perspectives and historical events on our understanding of the natural world.

Her writing also explores themes of boundaries and belonging, both in the context of nature and human society. She analyses how these concepts influence our interactions with the environment, drawing parallels between the natural world and human experiences of migration, identity, and displacement.

Her nature writing style is introspective, poetic, and textured, inviting readers to contemplate the intricate tapestry of connections between humans, nature, and memory. Her essay Fieldnotes from an African Anthropologist was awarded the Frank Allen Bullock Prize by St Catherine’s College, University of Oxford in 2020. In 2022, Robert Macfarlane described her piece Imagemory as a ‘beautiful and moving essay on loss, deep time and the bright present’. Her afterword to the Crouch and Ward classic book ‘The Allotment’ entitled ‘Banal Utopia’ was published in 2023.

In ‘A Loveliness of Ladybirds’, JC Niala intertwines colonial history, personal memoir to explore the profound impact of landscapes on our identity. Shortlisted for the Nan Shepherd Prize, this upcoming nature writing debut, to be published by Little Toller in 2024, invites readers on a thought-provoking journey. Niala delves deep into the heart of colonial legacies, revealing how landscapes sculpt not only the earth beneath our feet but also the essence of who we are. The book challenges readers to reconsider their place within the natural and cultural tapestries that surround them.