A member of Aosdána, the Irish National Academy of Artists, Michael Smith was the first Writer-in-Residence to be appointed by University College, Dublin and was an Honorary Fellow of UCD.
He was a poet who gave a lifetime of service to the art of poetry both in English and Spanish.
He has translated into English and published some of the most difficult and exhilarating poets in Spanish, including Federico García Lorca, Pablo Neruda, Miguel Hernández (Unceasing Lightning) and the two great Spanish masters of the baroque, Francisco de Quevedo and Luis de Góngora.
Among his most recent books are The Purpose of the Gift: Selected Poems and Maldon and Other Translations (NWP/ Shearsman).
With the Peruvian scholar Valentino Gianuzzi, he has translated and published (Shearsman Books) the complete poems of César Vallejo in four volumes.