Steven K. Smith

Description

A high school year abroad in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul ignited a lifelong passion for Portuguese that has continued throughout my educational and professional life. I hold bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in Portuguese. (My PhD dissertation on Brazilian theater in São Paulo is just one aspect of my lifelong passion for theater and the arts.) Before becoming a full-time translator, I was the Associate Director of two prominent research centers and Secretary of the Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I worked as an escort interpreter for the US State Department and have taught a wide variety of Portuguese language, culture, and literature classes. My published translations include “The Purple Stain” (Plínio Marcos’s “A mancha roxa”), “She Sings, Poor Reaper” (Fernando Pessoa’s “Ela Canta, Pobre Ceifeira”), and a graphic novel (“Last Call to Leave Earth” by Cassio Ribeiro; Nakama Press, 2026). My translation of Pedro Brício’s "Um jardim para Tchekhov" ("An Orchard for Chekhov") was staged by Upstream Theater in St. Louis, MO, in November 2025. I have also translated a wide variety of documents in the areas of law, social sciences, and medicine. I also regularly translate music at https://translationsmith.com/translations.