Christina Thompson is best known for her book Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia, which won the 2020 Australian Prime Minister's Literary Award for Nonfiction.
Her first book, a memoir called Come on Shore and We Will Kill and Eat You All, was published in July 2008 by Bloomsbury USA.
The story of the cultural collision between Westerners and the Māori of New Zealand,[7] it was a finalist for the 2009 NSW Premier's Literary Award and the 2010 William Saroyan International Prize for Writing.
[13] Her awards and fellowships include a Public Scholar Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities,[14] a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and grants from Australia Council, Arts Victoria, the Institute of International Education, and the Australian Federation of University Women.
She is married to Tauwhitu Parangi, a member of the Ngāti Rēhia hapu of the Ngāpuhi iwi of Aotearoa/New Zealand, with whom she has three sons.