Writer and feng shui expert Michael Elias has had an eventful life that could be the topic of a documentary and includes living the high life in Australia to meeting mother Teresa. Now writing his second book on men, he explains how racism in rural Wales informed his writing and identity.

November/December 2007

Michael Elias

I left long elaborate notes for the milkman as a refugee kid in 70’s rural Wales. We were delivered to our council house - wallpaper so old that the pattern had faded off – via refugee camps and other misadventures. A safe little Catholic town away from the big bad racist cities. I was born under the Ugandan sunshine; so I rarely ventured under grim grey skies. Messages in a bottle - that invisibly cried between the humorous lines - of wanting to go home.

I’d never heard slang, swearing or stylish mispronunciation; my English came from the World Service, even at the age of eight. I had to quickly fit in and cause no problems for my parents. Relieved to be alive from the clutches of Idi Amin’s Secret Service, we landed without my father. I headed our family with an unworldly over-protected Mother and a five-year-old brother with big bulging eyes. Father smuggled into Italy at the eleventh hour and a few months later we moved to his Staffordshire refugee camp, then Wales. The first coloured people most locals had ever seen.

My heart needed protection as a child. So much ‘good’ racist material was broadcast in those days that it made it quite impossible for the locals to hold back trying it out. It hurt. I kept it to myself. My folks had enough to deal with.

So I guess my heart closed and turned to stone. My first book, ‘MEN Speak the Unspeakable’ was self-published. It was not an option to begin to open my wounds and have some corporate publishing team red pen it into something more sellable.

The book is a series of taped conversations with a friend, over 14 months as we changed into men. We didn’t know how, nor have the role models that allowed us to retain personal integrity and our souls. The book changed my life and caused a stir for both men and women worldwide. It became the first 18 Certificate book, due to its raw honesty.

Previous to ‘MEN Speak the Unspeakable’ I wrote a few columns for local, lifestyle and property publications, on life, death, the universe, relationships and feng shui. I loved it, but it kept me the safe expert within 400-words. Not enough.

By trade I am Colombo, working with clients growing through change. The scene of the crime lies in the life script that seems to keep repeating itself. Therapist? Life coach? Something like that. I love my work and respect the people who let me in to their lives with the courage to change and manifest what they want, mainly through self-awareness and a strong will.

I still write a column and am half way through my second co-authored self-published book, this time focusing on a different type of man – the bad boy. My co-author is currently a drug addict. It is a difficult and important book that could save lives.

I’m sure I could have sold a lot more books through a reputable publisher, made a lot more money and bought a nice posh house by now. I didn’t trust that a publisher would not miss the point completely and thus not reach the people who need it most. I must admit that I couldn’t be bothered to put my efforts into selling my book to a publisher, who would then own my words, the fate of my book and the management of its delivery into the marketplace.

Some books get plugged; others gather dust and cause allergies. Marketing was my previous incarnation and I’d plugged client’s books whose publishers left them in the lurch, so to match my relationship with organised religion, I decided to cut out the middleman.

Men don’t speak, for good reason. I have mostly male clients, run men’s groups and love to write and do radio. I’m learning, learning to connect head, heart and vocal chords. And learning to tell the truth, irrespective of the consequences.

To read an extract from ‘MEN Speak the Unspeakable’ please click here. Be warned, this extract may offend and isn’t for the faint of heart.

Biography

Michael Elias was born in Uganda. Once a ‘nice Goan Catholic boy’, the 43-year-old is getting to grips with adulthood and feels ten years behind everyone else; his adolescence extended by the childhood dramas. With a career that took in marketing, journalism, feng shui consultancy and training, Michael’s ‘claim to fame’ is working with Mother Theresa with the dying in Calcutta, which he believes is the most useful he has ever been in his life. He used to hang out with ‘the stars’ (and refuses to name names) in the 80’s early 90’s, then travelled for five years, looking for a ‘home’. Among his worldwide adventures are feeding sharks in Fiji, bungee jumping in New Zealand, sky diving over Avebury, fire walking and having the ‘courage’ to fall in love.

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