Sia Figiel

Sia Figiel (born 1967) is a contemporary Samoan novelist, poet, and painter.

Born in Matautu Tai, Samoa, Sia Figiel grew up amidst the traditional Samoan singing and poetry which heavily influenced her writing. Her formal schooling was conducted in Samoa and New Zealand where she also began a BA which was completed at Whitworth College (United States). She has travelled in Europe and completed writers' residencies at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, and University of Technology, Sydney.

Sia Figiel's poetry has won the Polynesian Literary Competition in 1994 and "Where We Once Belonged" was awarded the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for fiction, South East Asia/South Pacific region. Her work has been translated into French, German, Catalan, Danish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Portuguese.

Works

Novels
* "Where We Once Belonged" (New Zealand: Pasifika, 1996) ISBN 0908597274 [http://www.trout.auckland.ac.nz/journal/2/sullivan/sia.htm Review]
* "They Who do not Grieve" (1999) ISBN 1740510100, ISBN 1885030339 Poetry & Stories
* "The Girl in the Moon Circle" (1996) ISBN 2742723722
* "To a Young Artist in Contemplation" (1998) [http://www.trout.auckland.ac.nz/journal/6/figiel/three.htm Excerpt]

External links

* [http://www.frigatezine.com/essay/lives/eli03sia.html A Conversation with Sia Figiel] at Frigatezine
* [http://www.nzepc.auckland.ac.nz/features/whetu_moana/figiel.asp Between the steel bars] poem at nzepc
* [http://www.salon.com/audio/2000/10/05/figiel/ "They Who do not Grieve"] recording of excerpt
* [http://www.vuw.ac.nz/modernletters/bnzp/2003/figiel.htm Songs of the fat brown woman] poem
* [http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/20010820/sarts.html A Garland of Exile and Belonging] Time Pacific
* [http://www.library.auckland.ac.nz/subjects/nzp/nzlit2/figiel.htm Bibliography] to 2002

References

* [http://www.southproject.org/profiles/figiel1.htm Sia Figiel] profile at The South Project

Persondata
NAME=Figiel, Sia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Contemporary Samoan novelist, poet and painter
DATE OF BIRTH=1967
PLACE OF BIRTH=Matautu Tai, Samoa
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=