Michael Shmith

{{short description|Australian journalist and writer (born 1949)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2015}}

Michael Shmith (born 7 July 1949) is an Australian journalist and writer.

Shmith is the son of Athol Shmith and his wife Patricia "Bambi" née Tuckwell (they later divorced).{{Cite Australian Dictionary of Biography|author=Michael Shmith|title=Louis Athol Shmith (1914–1990)|year=2012|volume=18}} He worked at The Age newspaper in Melbourne from 1981 until 1995, when he became communications director for the Australian Ballet.{{cite web|url=http://www.mwf.com.au/2009/content/mwf_2009_standard.asp?name=ShmithM|title=Authors 2009 – Michael Shmith|date=August 2009|work=2009 Festival Archive|publisher=Melbourne Writers Festival|access-date=19 June 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110316010721/http://www.mwf.com.au/2009/content/mwf_2009_standard.asp?name=ShmithM|archivedate=16 March 2011|df=dmy-all}} Shmith was then a senior writer for The Age{{cite news|url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/politics/wedding-ban-attracts-immature-reaction/news-story/7ee98cd1012595bc6c8ec30255983171|url-access=subscription|title=Wedding ban attracts immature reaction |author=Christopher Pearson |author-link=Christopher Pearson (journalist) |date=30 April 2011|newspaper=The Australian|access-date=27 May 2025}} and its arts editor from 1985 to 1993. From 2010 to 2017 he was the paper's opera critic. He resigned from that position in August 2017 over a disagreement with The Age{{'}}s arts editor Hannah Francis about the paper's dwindling coverage of the arts.[https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/arts-update/101-arts-update/4211-why-i-quit-as-opera-critic-of-the-age "Why I quit as opera critic of The Age"] by Michael Shmith, Australian Book Review, 14 August 2017. {{retrieved|access-date=27 May 2025}} {{subscription}} Since then, he writes reviews for the Australian Book Review.[https://www.australianbookreview.com.au/component/k2/author/2643-michaelshmith "Michael Shmith"], Australian Book Review {{retrieved|access-date=27 May 2025}}

He edited the 1999 Ebury Publishing edition of The New Pocket Kobbé's Opera Book with his stepfather George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood.{{cite web|url=http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/242458|title=The New Pocket Kobbé's Opera Book / edited by the Earl of Harwood with Michael Shmith|type=catalogue entry at National Library of Australia|access-date=19 June 2013}} Shmith's 2019 book, Cranlana: The First 100 Years, described the garden and house of Sidney Myer and Merlyn Myer in Toorak, Melbourne.{{cite book|author=Michael Shmith|year=2019|title=Cranlana: The First 100 Years|publisher=Hardie Grant Media|isbn=9781743795859}} His biography of Merlyn Myer, Merlyn, was published in 2021.{{cite book|author=Michael Shmith|year=2021|title=Merlyn|publisher=Hardie Grant Media|isbn=9781743798096}}