Michael Shmith

Michael Shmith is an Australian journalist and writer.
Shmith is the son of Athol Shmith and his wife Patricia "Bambi" née Tuckwell.

Journalist, publicist

Shmith worked at The Age newspaper in Melbourne from 1981 as a senior writer for The Age and its arts editor from 1985 to 1993. In 1995, he became communications director for the Australian Ballet. From 2010 to 2017 he was the paper's opera critic. He resigned from that position in August 2017 over a disagreement with The Ages arts editor Hannah Francis about the paper's dwindling coverage of the arts. Since then, he writes reviews for the Australian [Book Review].

Author

Shmith edited the 1999 Ebury Publishing edition of The New Pocket Kobbé's Opera Book with his stepfather George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood. Shmith's 2019 book, Cranlana: The First 100 Years, described the garden and house of Sidney Myer and Merlyn Myer in Toorak, Melbourne. His biography of Merlyn Myer, Merlyn, was published in 2021.