In 1998 the Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature described Michael O'Leary, the Earl of Seacliff, as a publisher, poet, novel-ist, performer and bookshop proprietor who has made a colourful contribution to the literary scene: "Under his Earl of Seacliff Art Workshop imprint he has published his own prolific output as well as various other writers, both alternative and main-stream." The Companion noted that Michael's poetry and novels explore his heritage, "the poetry more conventionally, the prose in an alternative vein which owes something to Joyce and Beckett." Since that time Michael has completed masters and doctoral studies in New Zealand publishing and literature at Victoria University, and has continued to write, publish and sell books from his seaside earldom at Paekakariki. Throughout Die Bibel he often uses his poems to express his thoughts and feelings, and to pay tribute to extraordinary people and events in his life.