Raina Smith was born in Waipiro Bay, Te Puia Springs, and was educated at Pae-o-Te Riri School in Tikitiki and Porirua College. She studied for two years at Victoria University, got married and had a child. She has been living on the East Coast and working in community development areas and more recently contracted as a facilitator to the Ministry of Education with a focus on schooling on the East Coast. She keeps a journal and writes personal work, mainly poetry.
Biographical sources
- Phone conversation with Raina Smith on 16 July 1998.
Biography
- "Parihaka: Past: Present: Future." Koru: The New Zealand Māori Artists and Writers Annual Magazine 1 (1976). n. pag.
- The poet mourns the former desecration of Parihaka and ponders on its future.