Charles Sarka (1879-1960) was born in Chicago. He began a career as an artist in his early teens; visited Egypt in 1902 and Tahiti and Moorea in 1903; and was a frequent contributor to such American magazines as Collier's, Scribner's, Cosmopolitan, Everybody's and Harper's in his later years. An exhibition of water colours which he did in Tahiti and Mo'orea was held in New York in 1963. Examples of his work were bought by some of America's leading art galleries.

Tahiti Nui' is a narrative of Sarka's life during his sojourn in Tahiti and Moorea in French Polynesia. See also an article by Robert Langdon in Pacific Islands Monthly, December, 1966, pp.93-97.