At last night's ceremony in Auckland Tusiata Avia took away the Mary and Peter Biggs Award for Poetry for her collection The Savage Coloniser Book, and New Zealand-Samoan chef and food writer Monique Fiso won the illustrated non-fiction awards for Hiakai: Modern Māori Cuisine.
Acclaimed poet, writer and performer Avia told RNZ the news was still sinking in that she's the first Pacific woman to win a major category in the awards.
"That kind of recognition is always good.
