Samoan playwright, author and poet Papali’i Sia Figiel has died in prison, according to local media reports.

Local media, citing sources at the country’s main correctional facility in Apia, are reporting that Papali’i, 58, was found dead in her prison cell on Monday.

She was being held at Tanumalala Prison, awaiting her next Supreme Court hearing in relation to a murder charge.

RNZ Pacific has contacted the Samoan police for comment.

Samoa Observer reports she had been in custody since 2024 for the alleged murder of Professor Caroline Gabbard.

Often described as Samoa’s first woman novelist, Papali’i’s first book, where we once belonged (1996), won the Best First Book award in the South East Asia/South Pacific region of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 1997. Her second novel was They who do not grieve (1999).

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

National Artist for Literature F Sionil Jose has died in the Philippines. He was 97.

His death was announced by the Philippine Center of International PEN (Poets, Playwrights, Essayists, Novelists) in a Facebook post.

According to the post, Jose was declared dead at 9:30 pm last evening at the Makati Medical Center, where he was confined ahead of an angioplasty due today.

Just hours before his death, Jose took to his own Facebook page to post what would become his final words.

“Thank you brave heart. There are times when as an agnostic I doubt the presence of an almighty and loving God. But dear brave heart you are here to disprove this illusion, to do away with the conclusion that if you doubt Him, you kill Him,” he wrote.

“I cannot kill you dear heart; you have to do that yourself.

“For 97 years you have been constantly working patiently pumping much more efficiently and longer than most machines. Of course, I know that a book lasts long too, as the libraries have shown, books that have lived more than 300 years. Now, that I am here in waiting for an angioplasty, I hope that you will survive it and I with it, so that I will be able to continue what I have been doing with so much energy that only you have been able to give.

“Thank you dear brave heart and dear Lord for this most precious gift.”

Rosales historical novels
Jose was known for the Rosales novels, a five-part series that follows a family throughout three centuries of Philippine history.

Mass, the final novel in the series, earned Jose one of his five Palanca awards.

He was named National Artist for Literature in 2001. Before that, he had already won a number of prestigious distinctions, including the CCP Centennial Honours for the Arts in 1999, and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and Creative Communication Arts in 1980.

He founded the Philippine chapter of PEN in 1958.

He was also a lecturer and owned the bookshop Solidaridad in Padre Faura, Manila.

In his later years, he maintained a column at The Philippine Star, where he wrote sometimes inflammatory critiques on Filipino society, culture and politics.

Republished from Rappler with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz