When people in Hawaii talk about the other times author Sia Figiel came to town, they use words like “whirlwind” and “tidal wave,” like she is an awesome force of nature.

There are stories about Figiel talking to university students and answering one question in Samoan, turning to speak to another student in German and pivoting around to finish her thoughts in English. Her writing is like that, too – fast-moving, beautiful in its power and deadly accurate.

Figiel, who grew up in Matautu Tai, Samoa, won the prestigious Commonwealth Writer’s Prize with her first novel. She was the first Pacific islander to win the prize.

She will be in Honolulu this week to promote her latest novel, her fourth, “FREELOVE,” published by Loihi Press.

This is not a breezy, casual read. “FREELOVE” is a tumble of words and images of a fateful ride a 17-year-old girl accepts in her teacher’s red truck. It is a short ride, but the beginning of a long journey. The novel is passionate, scholarly, uninhibited and poetic.

“Well, I’ve been thinking about ‘FREELOVE’ for the past 25 years, which means that I’ve meditated quite a bit on language and the musicality of it and how it would transport the reader into another time, and another world entirely,” Figiel said in an email interview. “This attention to language was critical because I knew that the ideas that I wanted to explore were complex in nature, ideas that have been associated with the interpretation of Samoa and Samoans by outsiders since the first ship landed back in the 18th century.”

The novel’s protagonist is also named Sia, but the author says the character is her own person. The character’s full name, Inosia, means “to be shamed” and was named after a friend Figiel met in Florida.

“I talked to Inosia about opposites and how Samoans used it to trick the gods. I told her that perhaps she was so beautiful, her parents didn’t want any extra attention to her and named her thus. To name the protagonist after my own name challenged me and made me dig deeper into my history. It was a very painful thing to do as well as it being a healing thing for me simultaneously, and led to the closure of certain wounds that were wide open for me. “

The other major character in the piece, Sia’s lover, will be a subject of academic theses for decades to come.

“In many ways, Ioage or Mr. Ioane Viliamu is my own revisionist look at the depiction of men in Samoan and Pacific literature, which included my own earlier representations,” Figiel said.

When she’s not talking about writing, Figiel is excited to talk about her recent physical transformation. This summer, she will walk across America in 150 days to bring awareness to obesity and diabetes in Pacific island communities. She starts walking June 1 and will post updates on Facebook as she moves across the continent — like a force of nature.

Reach Lee Cataluna at 529-4315 or lcataluna@staradvertiser.com.