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.

LATEST NEWS

Copying & Imitation

PNR 291 – editorial (Sept-October 2026) One aspect of contemporary academic plagiarism by professors, lecturers […]

11
Sep

SmithDoorstop publishes Michael Schmidt’s new poetry pamphlet ‘Here They Are’

Proving that he is not a ‘posthumous poet’, as (self) described in PNR, SmithDoorstop has […]

11
Sep

Elizabeth Jennings @ 100

PRN 190 – editorial (July-August 2026) In October 1965 Elizabeth Jennings (the centenary of whose […]

11
Sep

Future of the Book

PNR 289 – editorial (May-June 2026) How concerned should we be? The Bookseller on 20 […]

11
Sep

Peter Jones

PNR 288 – editorial (March-April 2026) Peter Jones is an unacknowledged presence in many poetry-lovers’ […]

11
Sep

ChatGPT Poems

PNR 287 – editorial (January-February 2026) A friend challenged me: ‘Tell ChatGPT to write a poem […]

11
Sep

Tony Harrison

PNR 286 – editorial (November-December 2025) In Index on Censorship (2, 1996) Nadine Gordimer quotes […]

11
Sep

Pannonhalma Archabbey

PNR 285 – editorial (September-October 2025) Why was I so affected by the story of the […]

11
Sep

The Bull God of Susa

PNR 284, Editorial (July-August 2025) One subscriber to PN Review, John Looker, enjoyed Colin Bramwell’s […]

09
Sep

BETWEEN LANGUAGES

PNR 283, May-June 2025 The PN Review 281 editorial occasioned many responses. Its themes have […]

09
Jun

DEEP CONNECTIONS & HARMONY: POEMS & HYMNS

PNR 282, March-April 2025 I have spent recent weeks in the company of Charles Wesley. […]

09
Jun

MEDAL OF HONOUR

Honorary degrees and Medals of Honour are the University of Manchester’s ’s highest awards, and […]

09
Jun

STRAYING BETWEEN LANGUAGES

PNR 281, January-February 2025 This editorial comes to you from Oaxaca, where I spent six weeks […]

08
Jun

INTRODUCTION

LATEST NEWS