View source for Albert Wendt

{{short description|Samoan poet and writer}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox academic
| honorific_prefix   = 
| name               = Albert Wendt
| honorific_suffix   = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZ|CNZM|size=100%}}
| image              = Albert Wendt ONZ (cropped).jpg
| image_size         = 
| alt                = 
| caption            = Wendt in 2013
| birth_date         = {{birth date and age|df=y|1939|10|27}}
| birth_place        = [[Apia, Samoa]]
| death_date         = <!-- {{death date and age|df=y|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place        = 
| nationality        = Samoan
| occupation         = {{Cslist|Author|academic}}
| awards             = [[Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement]] (2012)<br />[[Arts Foundation of New Zealand#Icon Award|Icon Award]] (2018)
| education          = [[New Plymouth Boys' High School]]
| alma_mater         = [[Victoria University of Wellington|Victoria University]]
| notable_works      = ''Sons for the Return Home'' (1973)<br />''Leaves of the Banyan Tree'' (1979)
| discipline         = {{Cslist|Pacific literature|New Zealand literature}}
| workplaces         = [[The University of Auckland]], [[University of the South Pacific]]
| partner            = [[Reina Whaitiri]]<!-- Q115609823 -->
| signature_alt      = 
| signature_size     = 
| footnotes          = 
}}

'''Albert Tuaopepe Wendt''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|ONZ|CNZM}} (born 27 October 1939) is a Samoan poet and writer who lives in [[New Zealand]]. He is one of the most influential writers in [[Oceania]]. His notable works include ''Sons for the Return Home'', published in 1973 (adapted into a feature film in 1979), and ''Leaves of the Banyan Tree'', published in 1979. As an academic he has taught at universities in Samoa, Fiji, Hawaii and New Zealand, and from 1988 to 2008 was the professor of New Zealand literature at the [[University of Auckland]].

Wendt is the recipient of many prestigious awards, including twice receiving the [[Commonwealth Writers Prize]] for the Asia-Pacific region, multiple top awards at the [[New Zealand Book Awards]], the 2012 [[Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement|Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement]] in Fiction and an [[Arts Foundation of New Zealand#Icon Award|Icon Award]] from the [[Arts Foundation of New Zealand]] in 2018. In 2013 he was appointed a member of the [[Order of New Zealand]], New Zealand's highest civilian honour, recognising his pivotal role in the formation of Pacific literature in English.

==Early life==
Wendt was born in [[Apia]], [[Western Samoa]] (now known as Samoa) in 1939, and lived in Samoa as a child.<ref name="OCNZL">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Wood |first1=Briar |editor1-last=Robinson |editor1-first=Roger |editor2-last=Wattie |editor2-first=Nelson |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature |title=Wendt, Albert |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001/acref-9780195583489-e-1323 |access-date=27 September 2021 |date=2006 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=978-0-1917-3519-6 |oclc=865265749 |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195583489.001.0001 |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="Read NZ">{{cite web |title=Wendt, Albert |url=https://www.read-nz.org/writer/wendt-albert/ |website=Read NZ Te Pou Muramura |access-date=26 September 2021}}</ref> He was one of nine children, and his father was a plumber.<ref name="Maidment">{{cite news |last1=Hewitson |first1=Michele |title=The Songmaker's Chair: at Maidment Theatre |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/ithe-songmakers-chairi-at-maidment-theatre/TUUSYRP5IXZ2EF6ROKKS2S62RU/ |access-date=18 November 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=9 September 2003}}</ref> He is of German heritage through his great-grandfather on his father's side, but in 2002 said he considered his family heritage to be "totally Samoan".<ref name="McDougall 1">{{cite journal |last1=McDougall |first1=Brandy Nālani |title=Interview with Albert Wendt: 1 |journal=Trout |date=12 August 2002 |volume=15 |url=http://www.trout.auckland.ac.nz/journal/15/15_10.html |access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref> In 1952, Wendt received a scholarship to attend [[New Plymouth Boys' High School]] in New Zealand. He graduated in 1957.<ref name="2004 interview">{{cite journal |url=http://ro.uow.edu.au/kunapipi/vol26/iss2/15/ |title=Interview with Albert Wendt |journal=Kunapipi |last=Christe |first=Michel |volume=26 |issue=2 |date=2004 |access-date=7 August 2021}}</ref> During his time at the school he had a couple of poems and a short story published in the school's annual magazine, ''The Taranakian''.<ref name="Bib">{{Cite web|last=Sharrad|first=Paul|date=2003|title=Albert Wendt, Bibliography|url=https://documents.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@arts/documents/doc/uow019621.pdf|access-date=10 October 2021}}</ref>

He completed a diploma of teaching at Ardmore Teachers' College in 1959, and subsequently attended [[Victoria University of Wellington]], graduating with a Master of Arts in History in 1964.<ref name="2004 interview"/> His Master's thesis was about the [[Mau movement|Mau]], Samoa's independence movement from [[colonialism]] during the first decade of the 1900s.<ref name=nzetc>{{cite web |last=Wendt |first=Albert |date=1965 |url=https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-WenGua-_N65748.html |work=New Zealand Electronic Text Centre|access-date=16 November 2009|title=Guardians and Wards: A study of the origins, causes and the first two years of the Mau in Western Samoa}}</ref> He began to publish work in literary magazines, including the ''[[New Zealand School Journal]]'', the ''[[New Zealand Listener]]'', and [[Landfall (journal)|''Landfall'']] while attending Victoria University.<ref name="McDougall 1"/><ref name="Bib"/> In 1963, he received an award from ''Landfall'' for the best prose by a writer under the age of 25, for his short story "The Name of the Game".<ref>{{cite journal |title=Notes |journal=Landfall |date=1963 |volume=17 |issue=4 |page=327 |url=http://www.landfallarchive.org/omeka/items/show/22230 |access-date=18 November 2021}}</ref> He has said that at the time he started writing, he was inspired by the examples of [[Alistair Te Ariki Campbell]], [[Jacquie Sturm]] and [[Hone Tuwhare]], who were then the only well-known Polynesian writers in New Zealand.<ref name="McDougall 1"/>

==Literary career==
===Time in the Pacific Islands: 1965–1987===
In 1965 Wendt returned to Samoa and became the headmaster of [[Samoa College]].<ref name="2004 interview"/> He continued to send poems and short stories back to New Zealand for publication in magazines, and in 1972 he wrote two plays: ''Comes the Revolution'', performed at the South Pacific Arts Festival, and ''The Contract'', performed at the School's Drama Festival in Apia.<ref name="Bib"/> He began working on the epic novel ''Leaves of the Banyan Tree'' around this time, but due to its length, put it aside and finished the novel ''Sons for the Return Home'' first, which was published in 1973.<ref name="McDougall 1"/> It described the experiences of a young Samoan man in New Zealand,<ref name="Wevers">{{cite web |last1=Wevers |first1=Lydia |title=Māori and Pacific writers and writing about Māori – Story: Fiction |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-10 |website=Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=27 September 2021 |archive-date=2 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210602215753/https://teara.govt.nz/en/fiction/page-10 |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 1979 was adapted into a feature film directed by [[Paul Maunder]], which was the first film focusing on the experiences of Pacific people in New Zealand.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martin |first1=Helen |title=Sons for the return home, 1979 |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/interactive/42475/sons-for-the-return-home-1979 |website=Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref>

In 1974 Wendt was appointed a senior lecturer at the [[University of the South Pacific]], and worked both in [[Suva]] and at its Samoan centre.<ref name="2004 interview"/><ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ" /> There, he published a number of articles in the literary journal ''Mana'' (including works examining the impact of colonialism on Pacific arts and culture) and edited collections of poems from Fiji, Samoa, the [[New Hebrides]] (now [[Vanuatu]]), and the [[Solomon Islands]].<ref name="OCNZL" /><ref name="Read NZ" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Albert Wendt|url=https://www.anzliterature.com/member/albert-wendt/|access-date=7 October 2021|website=Academy of New Zealand Literature|language=en-NZ}}</ref> In 1974 he published a collection of short stories, in the style of modern-day [[fables]], titled ''Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree''.<ref name="OCTCLE">{{cite encyclopedia |editor1-last=Stringer |editor1-first=Jenny |encyclopedia=The Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature in English |title=Wendt, Albert |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780192122711.001.0001/acref-9780192122711-e-3041 |access-date=16 November 2021 |date=2005 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |isbn=9780191727573 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Two stories from the collection were adapted into a feature film of the same name directed by [[Martyn Sanderson]] in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |title=Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree |url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/flying-fox-in-a-freedom-tree-1990 |website=NZ On Screen |access-date=16 November 2021}}</ref> His first poetry collection, ''Inside Us the Dead: Poems 1961 to 1974'', was published in 1976, and a novella, ''Pouliuli'' (translated as "darkness"), was published in 1977.<ref name="OCNZL" /><ref name="Read NZ" />

Wendt's epic family saga ''Leaves of the Banyan Tree'' (1979) won first place at the 1980 [[Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards]].<ref name="OCNZL" /><ref name="Read NZ" /><ref name="OCTCLE"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Past Winners by Author: W {{!}} New Zealand Book Awards Trust|url=https://www.nzbookawards.nz/new-zealand-book-awards/past-winners-by-author?letter=W|access-date=7 October 2021|website=New Zealand Book Awards}}</ref> In 1980 he was the editor of ''Lali'', an anthology of Pacific writing. From 1982 to 1987 he was the professor of Pacific literature at the University of the South Pacific,<ref name="2004 interview"/> and was also appointed to the position of pro-vice-chancellor.<ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ"/>

===Later career in New Zealand: 1988–present===
In 1988 he was appointed as the first professor of New Zealand literature at the [[University of Auckland]].<ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ"/><ref name="OCTCLE"/> He was the first Pacific Islander to be appointed as an English professor at the university.<ref name="Teaiwa">{{cite journal |last1=Teaiwa |first1=Teresia |last2=Marsh |first2=Selina Tusitala |title=Albert Wendt's Critical and Creative Legacy in Oceania: An Introduction |journal=The Contemporary Pacific |date=2010 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=233–248 |doi=10.1353/cp.2010.0025 |jstor=23724813 |s2cid=143912603 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23724813 |access-date=14 October 2021|hdl=10125/21247 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> In his later career he edited important anthologies of Pacific writing including ''Nuanua'' (1995),<ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ"/> ''Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English'' (2003) (with [[Reina Whaitiri]] and [[Robert Sullivan (poet)|Robert Sullivan]]) and ''Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English – Whetu Moana II'' (2010) (with Whaitiri and Sullivan). ''Whetu Moana'' was awarded the Montana Award for Reference and Anthology at the 2004 [[Montana New Zealand Book Awards]], and was the first anthology of modern Polynesian poetry in English to have Polynesian editors.<ref name="Read NZ"/> Its successor ''Mauri Ora'' was a finalist in the Poetry category at the 2011 [[New Zealand Post Book Awards]].<ref name="Read NZ"/>

Wendt's later works include poetry collections ''Shaman of Visions'' (1984) and ''Photographs'' (1995), and short story collection ''In The Birth and Death of the Miracle Man'' (1986), both of which feature works set in Samoa. The novel ''Ola'' (1991) features a female protagonist travelling around the world and themes of religious faith and identity,<ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ"/><ref name="OCTCLE"/> and won the 1992 [[Commonwealth Writers Prize]] for the Asia-Pacific Region.<ref name="dpmc">{{cite web|title=WENDT, Emeritus Professor Albert, ONZ, CNZM (2001)|url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/honours/recipients/wendt-emeritus-professor-albert-onz-cnzm|website=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet|date=3 June 2013|access-date=21 November 2021}}</ref> ''Black Rainbow'' (1992) is described by Wendt as an "allegorical thriller", and featured a dystopian future New Zealand.<ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ"/><ref name="OCTCLE"/> In 1994 he was appointed to the [[Order of Merit of Samoa]] for his services to education and literature.<ref name="dpmc"/>

In 1999, he was the visiting Professor of Asian and Pacific Studies at the [[University of Hawaiʻi]].<ref>{{cite web |title=WRITER ALBERT WENDT |url=http://www.pireport.org/articles/1999/10/04/writer-albert-wendt |website=Pacific Islands Report |publisher=Pacific Islands Development Program |access-date=25 October 2021 |date=1 October 1999}}</ref> In 2000 he delivered the New Zealand Book Council lecture, titled ''Le Vaipe: the Dead Water''.<ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ"/> In the [[2001 New Year Honours (New Zealand)|2001 New Year Honours]], he was appointed a [[Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit]], for services to literature.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2001 | title=New Year honours list 2001 |date=30 December 2000| publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | access-date=29 July 2018}}</ref> He received the Senior Pacific Islands Artist's Award at the 2003 [[Arts Pasifika Awards]],<ref name="Gregory">{{cite news |last1=Gregory |first1=Angela |title=Celebration of Pacific creativity |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/celebration-of-pacific-creativity/YLLHJO3GJ2OLFBPWMGCDJCYWVE/?outputType=amp |access-date=22 October 2021 |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=17 November 2003}}</ref> and his first play ''The Songmaker's Chair'' premiered that year.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Anae |first1=Misatauveve Melani |title=The songmaker's chair |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/1576/the-songmakers-chair |website=Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=22 October 2021}}</ref> In 2004 he was awarded the [[Nikkei Asia Prize]] for Culture.<ref name="Read NZ"/> In 2005, Victoria University made him an honorary [[Doctor of Literature]].<ref name="Read NZ"/> From 2004 to 2008 he held the position of Citizen's Chair at the University of Hawaiʻi.<ref name="Teaiwa"/>

He retired from his university professorship in 2008.<ref name="Teaiwa"/> In 2009, his verse novel ''The Adventures of Vela'' was published, which he had begun writing in the 1970s; extracts had earlier been included in the collection ''Photographs'' (1995).<ref name="Read NZ"/> He won his second [[Commonwealth Writers Prize]] in the Asia-Pacific Region for this work.<ref name="Read NZ"/><ref name="dpmc"/> In the same year he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Hawaiʻi.<ref name="Read NZ"/><ref name="Teaiwa"/> In 2012, he was presented with the [[Prime Minister's Award for Literary Achievement]] for Fiction, worth {{NZ$}}60,000,<ref name="Read NZ"/> and that same year his [[ʻaiga]], ʻAiga Sa-Maualaivao, granted him their highest title of Maualaivao in a Samoan ceremony.<ref name="Arts">{{cite web |title=Maualaivao Albert Wendt's Biography |url=https://www.thearts.co.nz/artists/maualaivao-albert-wendt |website=Arts Foundation of New Zealand |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arathimos |first1=Michalia |title=We Are What We Remember |journal=Landfall Review Online |date=1 May 2017 |url=https://landfallreview.com/we-are-what-we-remember/ |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref> In the [[2013 Birthday Honours (New Zealand)|2013 Queen's Birthday Honours]], he was appointed a member of the [[Order of New Zealand]], New Zealand's highest civilian honour.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/queens-birthday-honours-list-2013 |title=Queen's Birthday honours list 2013 |date=3 June 2013 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |access-date=18 June 2018}}</ref>

He became a patron of the [[New Zealand Book Council]] in 2015.<ref name="Read NZ"/> Later that year, he published a memoir, ''Out of the Vaipe, the Deadwater'', about his early life in Apia, and a novel, ''Breaking Connections'', about a group of friends and their life in Auckland.<ref name="Read NZ"/> In 2018 he was recognised as one of New Zealand's greatest twenty living artists and presented with an [[Arts Foundation of New Zealand#Icon Award|Icon Award]] by the [[Arts Foundation of New Zealand]].<ref>{{cite news |last1=Wenman |first1=Eleanor |title=Five top Kiwi artists earn the title of Icon from the New Zealand Arts Foundation |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/103730788/five-top-kiwi-artists-earn-the-title-of-icon-from-the-new-zealand-arts-foundation |access-date=17 November 2021 |work=Stuff.co.nz |date=9 May 2018}}</ref> Poetry by Wendt was included in ''UPU,'' a curation of Pacific Island writers' work which was first presented at the Silo Theatre as part of the Auckland Arts Festival in March 2020.<ref>{{Cite web|date=March 2020|title=UPU|url=https://silotheatre.co.nz/show/upu|access-date=7 June 2021|website=Silo Theatre}}</ref> ''UPU'' was remounted as part of the [[Kia Mau Festival]] in Wellington in June 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|date=June 2021|title=UPU|url=https://kiamaufestival.org/events/upu/|access-date=7 June 2021|website=Kai Mau Festival}}</ref>

==Legacy and influence==
Throughout his career Wendt has been a leader in [[postcolonial literature]].<ref name="OCNZL"/><ref name="Read NZ"/><ref name="Teaiwa"/> His works have been published widely internationally and translated into French, Chinese, German, Dutch and Japanese.<ref name="Arts"/> The first notable study of his work was published in 2003, by [[Paul Sherrad]], titled ''Albert Wendt and Pacific Literature: Circling the Void''.<ref name="Read NZ"/> New Zealand scholar [[Lydia Wevers]] said that Wendt's works "have been instrumental in shaping a Pacific literature in English, especially in its evolution from oral to written form".<ref name="Wevers"/> In addition to his own works, of which the most well-known is ''Sons for the Return Home'' (1973), Wendt has played a wider role in shaping the cultural life of Oceania; writers [[Teresia Teaiwa]] and [[Selina Tusitala Marsh]] noted, in an introduction to a special 2010 issue of ''[[The Contemporary Pacific]]'' focussing on Wendt's legacy:<ref name="Teaiwa"/>

{{blockquote|Without a doubt, there are a number of Wendt’s contemporaries who, like him, have created invaluable legacies to inspire challenge thinking in, of, and about the Pacific— or Oceania. But in crucial ways, Wendt is an unparalleled figure in our region.}}

He is the subject of a documentary, ''The New Oceania'', made in New Zealand by Point of View Productions. Directed by [[Shirley Horrocks]], the film screened at the [[New Zealand International Film Festival]] and [[Hawaii International Film Festival]] in 2005, on [[TVNZ]] in 2006 and on [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC Australia]] in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=The New Oceania |url=https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/the-new-oceania-2005 |website=NZ On Screen |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The New Oceania: Albert Wendt, writer |url=http://www.pointofview.co.nz/Wendt.htm |website=Point of View Productions |access-date=17 November 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==
As a young teacher, Wendt married Jenny Whyte, and they had two daughters and a son.<ref name="Sharrad">{{cite book |last1=Sharrad |first1=Paul |title=Albert Wendt and Pacific Literature: Circling the Void |date=2003 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=9780719059421 |page=10}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=International Who's Who of Authors and Writers 2004 |date=2003 |publisher=Europa Publications |isbn=9781857431797 |page=573}}</ref> One of his daughters, Mele Wendt, was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to governance in the [[2019 New Year Honours (New Zealand)|2019 New Year Honours]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Working to level the playing field for Pacific |url=https://www.mpp.govt.nz/news-and-media/working-to-level-the-playing-field-for-pacific/ |website=Ministry for Pacific Peoples |access-date=18 November 2021 |date=11 January 2019}}</ref>

Wendt has been in a relationship with his partner, Reina Whaitiri, since his marriage ended in the early 1990s.<ref name="Sharrad"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Albert Wendt, Reina Whaitiri and Robert Sullivan, 2011 |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/43095/albert-wendt-reina-whaitiri-and-robert-sullivan-2011 |website=Te Ara: the Encyclopedia of New Zealand |access-date=18 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Wendt |first1=Albert |title=Out of the Vaipe, the Deadwater: A writer's early life |date=2015 |publisher=Bridget Williams Books |isbn=9780908321261 |page=13}}</ref> He is a cousin of actor [[Nathaniel Lees]], who directed and starred in Wendt's play ''The Songmaker's Chair'' at the 2003 [[Auckland Arts Festival]].<ref name="Maidment"/> His niece [[Lani Wendt Young]] is also a writer.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Husband |first1=Dale |title=Lani Wendt Young: A hunger worldwide for our stories told by us |url=https://e-tangata.co.nz/korero/lani-wendt-young-a-hunger-worldwide-for-our-stories-told-by-us/ |website=E-tangata |access-date=18 November 2021 |date=1 September 2019}}</ref>

==Awards and honours==
*1980 – [[Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards|Wattie Book of the Year]] for ''Leaves of the Banyan Tree''<ref name="dpmc" />
*1992 – [[Commonwealth Writers Prize]] in the Asia-Pacific Region for ''Ola''<ref name="dpmc" />
*1994 – [[Order of Merit of Samoa]] for services to education and literature<ref name="dpmc" />
*2001 – [[New Zealand Order of Merit|Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit]] for services to literature<ref name="dpmc" />
*2003 – Senior Pacific Arts Award, [[Arts Pasifika Awards]]<ref name="dpmc" />
*2004 – [[Nikkei Asia Prize]] for Culture<ref name="dpmc" />
*2004 – [[Ockham New Zealand Book Awards|Montana Book Award]] for ''Whetu Moana''<ref name="dpmc" />
*2010 – [[Commonwealth Writers Prize]] in the Asia-Pacific Region for ''The Adventures of Vela''<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=Albert Wendt|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Wendt|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref>
*2012 – [[Prime Minister's Awards for Literary Achievement]] in Fiction<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.creativenz.govt.nz/en/results-of-our-work/award-winners/prime-minister-s-awards-for-literary-achievement |title=Previous winners |publisher=[[Creative New Zealand]] |access-date=24 October 2013}}</ref>
*2013 – [[Order of New Zealand]]<ref name="dpmc"/>
*2018 – Icon Award from the [[New Zealand Arts Foundation]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.samoaobserver.ws/category/samoa/1563 |title=Maualaivao Albert Wendt wins Icon Award 2018 |publisher=Samoa Observer |date=11 May 2018 |access-date=3 November 2020}}</ref>

==Selected works==
'''Novels, short story collections and memoirs'''
* ''Sons for the Return Home'' (1973)
* ''Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree: And Other Stories'', short story collection (1974)
* ''Pouliuli'' (1977)
* ''Leaves of the Banyan Tree'' (1979)
* ''The Birth and Death of the Miracle Man'', short story collection (1986)
* ''Ola'' (1991)
* ''Black Rainbow'' (1992)
* ''The Best of Albert Wendt's Short Stories'' (1999)
* ''The Mango's Kiss: a Novel'' (2003)
* ''The Adventures of Vela'' (2009)
* ''Ancestry'', short story collection  (2012)
* ''Breaking Connections'' (2015)
* ''Out of the Vaipe, The Deadwater: A Writer's Early Life'', memoir (2015)

'''Poetry collections'''
* ''Inside Us the Dead. Poems 1961 to 1974'' (1976)
* ''Photographs'' (1995)
* ''Shaman of Visions'' (1984)
* ''The Book of the Black Star'' (2002)
* ''From Mānoa to a Ponsonby Garden'' (2012)

'''Plays'''
* ''Comes the Revolution'' (1972)
* ''The Contract'' (1972)
* ''The Songmaker's Chair'' (2004)

'''Anthologies and other edited works'''
* ''Lali: A Pacific Anthology'' (1980)
* ''100 Lovers of Taamaki Makaurau'', edited by Wendt and [[Witi Ihimaera]] (1994)
* ''Nuanua: Pacific Writing in English since 1980'' (1995)
* {{Cite book|title=Whetu Moana: Contemporary Polynesian Poetry in English |editor1-first=Albert |editor1-last=Wendt |editor1-link=Albert Wendt |editor2-first=Reina |editor2-last=Whaitiri |editor2-link=Reina Whaitiri |editor3-first=Robert |editor3-last=Sullivan|editor3-link=Robert Sullivan (poet) |publisher=Auckland Univ Press|date=December 2002 |isbn=9781869402730}}
* {{cite book |editor1-first=Albert |editor1-last=Wendt |editor2-first=Reina |editor2-last=Whaitiri |editor2-link=Reina Whaitiri |editor3-first=Robert |editor3-last=Sullivan|editor3-link=Robert Sullivan (poet) |title=Mauri Ola: Contemporary Polynesian Poems in English |location=Auckland |publisher=Auckland UP |date=September 2010 |isbn=9781869404482}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.read-nz.org/writer/wendt-albert/ Wendt's profile] from [[Read NZ Te Pou Muramura]]
* [https://www.anzliterature.com/member/albert-wendt/ Wendt's profile] from the Academy of New Zealand Literature
* {{IMDb name|id=16908739|name=Albert Wendt}}
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBsPg6XYMBg ''The New Oceania'' film], available on [[YouTube]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U25ttiGMmQI Wendt reading his poem "Inside Us The Dead"], available on YouTube
* [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/145486/stepping-stones "Stepping Stones"], published in [[Poetry (magazine)|''Poetry'']], February 2018
* [https://tiaki.natlib.govt.nz/#details=ecatalogue.765766 Albert Wendt Papers] at [[National Library of New Zealand|Alexander Turnbull Library]]

{{Order of New Zealand}}
{{Arts Foundation of New Zealand Icons}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wendt, Albert}}
[[Category:1939 births]]
[[Category:Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of New Zealand]]
[[Category:Samoan novelists]]
[[Category:Samoan historians]]
[[Category:Samoan people of German descent]]
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland]]
[[Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni]]
[[Category:Samoan expatriates in New Zealand]]
[[Category:20th-century Samoan poets]]
[[Category:21st-century Samoan poets]]
[[Category:20th-century male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century male writers]]
[[Category:Winners of the Nikkei Asia Prize]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit of Samoa]]
[[Category:Samoan poets]]
[[Category:Samoan male poets]]
[[Category:Samoan writers]]
[[Category:Samoan male writers]]
[[Category:Oceanian poets]]
[[Category:Oceanian writers]]
[[Category:People educated at New Plymouth Boys' High School]]