Born in Apia, Western Samoa, Albert Wendt has published a huge range of fiction and poetry, as well as theoretical writing. He is internationally recognised as a leader of developments in New Zealand and Pacific literature. Albert was awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to literature in 2000. His publications often feature his own drawings, and in 2008 an exhibition of his paintings opened in Auckland. He continues to play a major role in fostering and promoting Pacific literature. In 2013 he was awarded the highest possible honour in New Zealand's honours system, becoming a member of the Order of New Zealand.
Albert has been an influential figure in the developments that have shaped New Zealand and Pacific literature since the 1970s, writing numerous works of fiction and several volumes of poetry, and editing notable anthologies of Pacific literature.