18 Facts About Sia Figiel

Papalii Sia Figiel was born on 1966 and is a Samoan novelist, poet, and painter.

Sia Figiel was born in Matautu Tai, Samoa to a Samoan mother and a Polish-American father.

Sia Figiel grew up amidst traditional Samoan singing and poetry, which heavily influenced her writing.

Sia Figiel travelled in Europe and completed writers' residencies at the University of the South Pacific, Suva, and the University of Technology, Sydney.

Sia Figiel's works have been translated into French, German, Catalan, Danish, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Portuguese.

In 2000, Sia Figiel performed her Oceanic poetry at the University of Hawaii's twenty-fifth annual Pacific Island Studies conference.

Sia Figiel has been a contributor to The Contemporary Pacific journal on multiple occasions, including publications in 1998 and 2010.

Sia Figiel's life has been affected by diabetes in various ways.

In 2003 Sia Figiel herself was diagnosed with Type two diabetes.

Sia Figiel initially kept her diagnosis secret as she felt it to be a sign of weakness and did not want her condition to shape her as a writer and a public figure.

In 2012, in parallel with a move to the United States, Sia Figiel began to address her diabetes both publicly and personally, making appearances at various conferences and university campuses.

Sia Figiel has acted as a role model for good health by targeting both those with diabetes and those who are working to prevent it.

Sia Figiel's story was featured on CNN where she discussed her struggle with food and explained how because she is from American Samoa where food is such a major part of the culture, she had difficulty managing her diabetes.

Sia Figiel's diabetes resulted in major dental complications and many occasions of very low blood sugar.

Sia Figiel's Where We Once Belonged is a Samoan novel set in the fictitious village of Malaefou.

In telling this story, Sia Figiel writes with complex prose that are highly poetic and dream-like.

Sia Figiel's writing style is emblematic of Su'ife-filoi, a Samoan form of story telling centred around the "quilt-like weaving of words".

Sia Figiel's To a Young Artist in Contemplation is a collection of poetry and prose published in 1998 by the Institute of Pacific Studies.