NAME:
Sia Figiel
BIRTHPLACE:
Apia, Samoa
KNOWN FOR:
An author who is regarded as Samoa’s first female novelist and a contemporary performance poet.
SHORT BIO / CAREER HIGHLIGHTS:
Started her Bachelors degree in New Zealand and completed her studies at Whiteworth College in the U.S.
She has held residencies at the Institucio de les Lletres Catalanes in Spain, the Pacific Writing Forum at the University of the South Pacific, the University of Technology in Sydney, and the Center for Pacific Islands Studies at the University of Hawaii.
Sia has publicly stated that one of her influences in life has been the work of fellow Samoan and Novelist – Albert Wendt.
Won Polynesian Literary Competition in 1994
Won best First Book Award in the South East Asia/South Pacific region of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1997
Recognized as the First Samoan Novelist in New Zealand
First Pacific Islander to read at the Shakespeare Globe Theatre in London