Michael Smith (writer)

For other people named Michael Smith, see Michael Smith (disambiguation).

Michael Smith

Michael Smith (born 1976) is an author and broadcaster best known for Citizen Smith, a series examining what it means to be English (BBC Four, 2008); Michael Smith's Drivetime, a six-part road movie exploring the cultural impact of the car (BBC Four, 2009); and A Journey Back to Newcastle: Michael Smith's Deep North (BBC Four, 2010).

Both series were produced and directed by Simon Egan of Bedlam Productions, who went on to co-produce the multi-Oscar- and BAFTA-winning The King's Speech.

Smith regularly makes short films for BBC2's The Culture Show, including: the Oxford behind the dreaming spires; Patriotism in Music, to mark the 300th anniversary of the anthem Rule Britannia; a call for a more inclusive approach to heritage from the National Trust; a critique of the Skin exhibition at London's Wellcome Collection, later included in The Culture Show's Best of 2010 programme; a piece on accents to mark the opening of the Evolving English exhibition at the British Library; a hymn to shopping malls, classical and contemporary, from the perspective of the flaneur; a tour of the regenerating East End of London; an "art crawl" around galleries and spaces in Deptford and Peckham in SE London which takes place on the last Friday of each month; and a review of Dr Dee, the new opera by Damon Albarn, premiered at the Manchester International Festival.

He made three films for the The Culture Show at the 2011 Edinburgh Festival: the first recounting his experience as a 'Festival Virgin'; a second on how the city of Edinburgh's dark side is mirrored in numerous festival productions - focussing on the work of the Traverse Theatre, he evoked the legacy of murderous denizens of the Scots capital, Burke and Hare and Jekyll and Hyde; and an evocation of Edinburgh's magic as a drama set - how the city itself is the real star of the Festival.

Subsequent films for The Culture Show included a review of the 2011 Postmodernism exhibition at London's Victoria & Albert Museum, and a tour of the edgy arts scene in Birmingham, rejecting the silly claim that Brum is the 'most boring city in Europe'.

Smith completed Paris Postcards, a series of six short films for Eurostar in 2009, followed by similar series exploring Amsterdam, Lyon and Avignon in 2010. The Amsterdam films were photographed by Danfung Dennis, whose 2011 documentary Hell and Back Again was a Sundance award winner.

He developed his meditations on "London" in another short film, Drift Street: Michael Smith's Guide to the Olympic Park, London 2012, which was premiered in July 2011 on a narrowboat housing London's Floating Cinema.

He started writing by producing a series of pamphlets which he would later work up into The Giro Playboy (Faber and Faber, 2006). They were distributed through cafes and trendy boutiques in London and Brighton and quickly became collectors' items.

Shorty Loves Wing Wong (Faber and Faber, 2007), a prequel to The Giro Playboy, incorporating art by Jim Medway, was the follow-up.

Both Faber books were preceded by collectable limited editions, published by Simon Finch and To Hell, respectively. The Simon Finch edition collected together the early The Giro Playboy pamphlets and a CD of readings, set to music by collaborator Flora, packaged in a hand-stencilled pizza box. Shorty Loves Wing Wong was accompanied by an exhibition of Jim Medway's artwork at London's Paul Stolper Gallery.

His writing has been anthologised in collections, including: Oysteropolis, in On Nature (Harper, 2011), and extracts from The Giro Playboy in Reactions 5: New Poetry (Pen & Inc Press, Uni E Anglia, 2005).

Smith has also written features for The Guardian and The Observer newspapers, The Idler, Zembla and Fire & Knives, as well as regular columns for magazines like Dazed & Confused, Good For Nothing and Bare Bones/Le Gun.

He has performed many readings. With Flora, he held a fortnightly residency at London's Whitechapel Gallery. Gigs have included: Richmond-upon-Thames Literary Festival, Port Eliot, Hay, Clerkenwell and Hackney festivals; London's Colony Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Filthy Macnasty's, Boogaloo, and the Great Eastern Hotel; gigs in Newcastle, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh; and European venues such as the Crossing The Border Festival in The Hague and Shakespeare & Co in Paris.

Smith has been heard on numerous radio stations, notably BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4, BBC London, and various regional stations.

A third book, The Birds, about romance, is due soon. Smith is also currently working on several film projects.

External links

• Michael Smith's official website
• BBC2 Culture Show page
• The Guardian review of Citizen Smith
• Faber And Faber, Smith's publisher
• Michael Smith's page, Conville and Walsh

Persondata
Name	Smith, Michael
Alternative names	The Giro Playboy
Short description	author and broadcaster
Date of birth	1976
Place of birth	Hartlepool, England
Date of death
Place of death