He was raised in a state house in Auckland’s eastern suburbs and educated at state schools in Panmure, Tamaki and Glen Innes, and later majored in English at Auckland University where he further refined his passion for language.
Mike Bentley’s new poetry book.
In 1977, he left for Canada to work in psychiatric rehabilitation before returning to New Zealand in 1996. He said said his poems reflect his experiences and perspective of life in these places.
He now lives in Honeymoon Valley, west of Kaitāia, and said he had worked and served his aiga in Samoa and has inherited an interest in telling stories through verse, as well as short stories and novellas.
His work reflects the Samoan people’s unique humour and carries underlying messages for his aiga and Samoans at home and abroad.
