Michael Schmidt - literary critic, anthologist, poet, translator, novelist, publisher

Photo credit: Ben Schmidt

Michael Schmidt was born in Mexico on 2 March 1947. He made his home in England after completing his studies at Oxford University. He is a co-founder (1969), editorial and managing director of Carcanet Press Limited, and co-founder (1972) and general editor of the literary journal PN Review. He has held academic posts at the universities of Manchester, Glasgow and Cambridge. He has written poetry, fiction and literary history, and is a translator and anthologist. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Michael received an OBE in 2006 for services to poetry and higher education, and the University of Manchester’s Honour Medal in 2025, for his achievements locally, nationally and internationally.