James A. Michener, the best-selling author of more than 40 books including "Tales of the Pacific" and "Hawaii," will be honored on a U.S. postage stamp that will go on sale May 12.

The new stamp —59 cents for a 2-ounce first class rate — is the 10th in the post office's Distinguished American series. It was created by Mark Summers, based on a late 1970s photo of the author.

Michener, who lived in Hawai'i from 1949 to 1959 while researching his 1959 novel, "Hawaii," and largely wrote the book while living in Waikiki, is noted for his expansive multigenerational novels that embrace a sense of place and history over vast periods of time. The book — four years in research, three in writing — was completed the day Hawai'i became the 50th state.

The stamp arrives in the midst of a current Broadway revival of "South Pacific," which is based on Michener's 1948 Pulitzer Prize-winning "Tales of the South Pacific."

While Michener was a lieutenant in the Navy during and following World War II, he visited nearly 50 South Pacific islands as an inspector and messenger. His book was adapted into a 1949 Tony Award-winning musical and an Oscar-winning film in 1958.

Michener's novels also included "The Bridges at Toko-Ri," "Sayonara," "The Drifters," "Chesapeake," "Space," "Poland," "Caribbean," "Texas," and "The Fires of Spring."

Michener died in 1997 at age 90 in Austin, Texas.

The Michener stamp will be available at all post offices nationwide, on www.usps.com or by calling 800-STAMP-24 (782-6724).