Maualaivao Albert Wendt CNZM is of the aiga Sa-Maualaivao of Malie, aiga Sa-Su'a of Lefaga, aiga Sa-Patu of Vaiala and aiga Sa-Asi of Moata'a, Samoa. An esteemed poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright and painter, he is also Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Auckland, specialising in New Zealand and Pacific literatures and creative writing. Wendt has been an influential figure in the developments that have shaped New Zealand and Pacific literature since the 1970s and was made Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2001 for his services to literature. His Adventures of Vela, a novel in verse, was published in 2008; and his co-edited collection Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English was shortlisted for the 2011 New Zealand Post Book Awards.