James A. Michener, born in New York City on February 3 1907 was raised by Mabel Michener in Pennsylvania, after being abandoned. After graduating with high honours at Swarthmore College he studied at St. Andrew's University in Scotland, taught at Bucks County George School, Colorado State Teachers College, and then Assistant Visiting Professor of History at Harvard.

Called to active duty in 1943 as a lieutenant commander and introduced to the Pacific as a naval historian, he learnt about local culture and history during his island travels and spent his nights tapping stories with two fingers on an old typewriter. From his wartime experiences in the New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) and the Solomons came his first book in 1947, Tales of the South Pacific, which won a Pulitzer Prize and was a Broadway hit as the musical South Pacific. Bali Hai is said to be based on Ambae, the volcano which was active whilst Michener was based in Santo and visible from there. The hospital in South Pacific was just outside Port Vila where foundations are still visible.

Michener published more than forty titles in virtually every language in the world. Distinguished by the thorough research, his novels have sold an estimated 75 million copies worldwide. Several were made into motion pictures, including Tales of the South Pacific, Hawaii, Texas, and Space. He devoted much of his time to public service and in 1962 ran unsuccessfully for Congress. From 1979 to 1983, he was a member of the Advisory Council to NASA. His many honours and awards include honorary doctorates in five different fields and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian award. Michener was married three times, the last for 39 years to Mari Yoriko Sabusawa, a second-generation Japanese American. Having no children, he gave away a great deal of the money he earned, contributing more than $US100 million to charitable causes. In his last years, James Michener was based in Austin Texas where he died on October 16 1997, aged 90.