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Michael Te Arawa Bennett

マイケル・テ・アラワ・ベネット

Maikeru Te Arawa Benetto

Aliases: Michael Bennett

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
Reefton, New Zealand
Nationality
New Zealand
Languages
English
Residence History
Reefton, New Zealand → Auckland, New Zealand

Career

Occupations
Film director, Screenwriter, Author
Active Years
1994-2024
Affiliations
South Seas Film School
Nominations
Ockham New Zealand Book Awards Jann Medlicott Acorn Prize for Fiction 2023 shortlist (Better the Blood), Ngaio Marsh Awards Best Novel 2023 shortlist (Better the Blood), Ngaio Marsh Awards Best Novel 2025 longlist (Return to Blood)

Awards

Ngaio Marsh Award for Best Non Fiction
2017
Work: In Dark Places
Organization: Ngaio Marsh Awards
Result: won
Ngaio Marsh Award for Best First Novel
2023
Work: Better the Blood
Organization: Ngaio Marsh Awards
Result: won

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

In Dark Places

2016 True crime

A study of the wrongful conviction of Teina Pora for the 1992 murder of Susan Burdett.

Wrongful convictionJustice system failure
Adaptations
  • [TV film] In Dark Places / Michael Bennett (2018)

Better the Blood

2022 Crime novel

First novel in the Hana Westerman detective series.

Māori cultureAncestryJustice

Return to Blood

2024 Crime novel

Second novel in the Hana Westerman series.

Māori traditionsCrime

Bibliography

  • In Dark Places (2016)
  • Helen and the Go-Go Ninjas (2019)
  • Better the Blood (2022)
  • Return to Blood (2024)
  • Carved in Blood (2025)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
Investigative proseTaut crime fiction style
Recurring Motifs
Māori identityHistorical traumaPursuit of justice

Legacy

Renowned New Zealand crime writer, multiple Ngaio Marsh Award winner, noted for incorporating Māori perspectives in his works.

Trivia

  • Of Māori Te Arawa descent.
  • Cousin of actor Manu Bennett.
  • Co-creator, writer, show-runner, and executive producer of TVNZ's Vegas.