Seth Michelson

Seth Michelson (b. 1975), is an award-winning American poet, translator, and professor of poetry. 
==Background==
He received his B.A. from Johns Hopkins University, his MFA in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College,Alumni Publications Sarah Lawrence College > Alumni Publications > Seth Michelson 'Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention] and his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from University of Southern California .
==Poetry==
He is the author of fifteen volumes of original poetry, poetry in translation, and an anthology of poetry. He has been praised widely in academic and popular journals for his work, especially the underlying current of compassionate resistance to injustice. Likewise, he has earned widespread acclaim for his teaching and translating, particularly as it addresses injustice through compassion. This includes his groundbreaking translation of female poets and his unprecedented work with incarcerated people. Of the latter, the scholar and critic Montse Feu writes "Until Seth Michelson’s Dreaming America, though, no book had exclusively focused on the lives of the incarcerated children" .
His most recent book of original poetry is Swimming Through Fire (2017)., and his most recent book of poetry in translation is Women of the Big Sky (2020). 
==Dreaming America==
Michelson compiled, edited, and translated the poetry for the groundbreaking anthology Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention (2017). Those poems come from poetry workshops that he created and led across three years inside the most restrictive immigrant detention center in the US for undocumented, unaccompanied youth. .
The book is widely acclaimed, receiving praise in academic and public venues alike [https://www.backstoryradio.org/shows/best-of-nathan [url=https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/2018/06/21/immigrant-children-asylum-america-border-journey-personal-risk-poetry/713330002/] [url=https://roanoke.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-voiceless-migrant-children-speak-through-their-art-and-it/article_03b569c5-4f3c-5b30-a1ab-a3e30fde1e3a.html]. It is regularly taught in high schools and universities, and it has been featured nationally and internationally in the press in places as diverse as ABC News url=https://www.whsv.com/content/news/Poetry-anthology-gives-voice-to-immigrant-children-in-maximum-security-prisons-488407221.html , NPR url=https://www.wmra.org/post/tales-self-harm-suicide-attempts-valley-detention-center-immigrant-children#stream/0, BBC , and La Diaria of Uruguay . Dreaming America also has been featured at book festivals around the world, and it has been turned into original plays and music. . All proceeds from its sale go to a legal defense fund for incarcerated, undocumented youth url=https://www.caircoalition.org/2017/07/31/dreaming-america-voices-of-undocumented-youth-in-maximum-security-detention/ .
==Translation==
As a translator, Michelson focuses predominantly on poetry by women from Latin America. Thus, his books of poetry in translation include The Ghetto (2011; 2018) by the Argentine poet Tamara Kamenszain, The Red Song by the Uruguayan poet Melisa Machado, roly poly by the Uruguayan poet Victoria Estol, and Poems from the Disaster by the Argentine poet Zulema Moret. 
He also earned a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts to translate poetry by the Mapuche poet Liliana Ancalao. That fellowship resulted in Women of the Big Sky (2020), the first-ever, single-author book of poetry by a female Mapuche writer from Argentina to appear in English-language translation. The book is in fact trilingual, featuring the poetry in Mapuzugun, Spanish, and English. .. 
Outside of Latin America, Michelson has translated two books by the Indian poet Rati Saxena, Dreaming in Another Land (2014) and Scripted in the Streams (2017), and a book by the Israeli poet Amir Or, Wings (2018).
==Teaching==
Michelson currently teaches at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, where he founded and directs the Center for Poetic Research 
==Bibliography==
==Poetry==
*Swimming through Fire (2017) 
*Eyes Like Broken Windows (2012) 
*House in a Hurricane (2010)
*Kaddish for My Unborn Son (2009)
*Maestro of Brutal Splendor (2005)
==Poetry in translation==
*Women of the Big Sky by Liliana Ancalao, Puelmapu (2020) 
*The Ghetto by Tamara Kamenszain, Argentina (2018) 
*Wings by Amir Or, Israel (2018) 
*The Red Song by Melisa Machado, Uruguay (2018) 
*Scripted in the Streams by Rati Sxena, India (2017)
*Poems from the Disaster by Zulema Moret, Argentina (2016) 
*roly poly by Victoria Estol, Uruguay (2014)
*Dreaming in Another Land by Rati Saxena, India (2014)
*El Ghetto/The Ghetto: A Bilingual Edition by Tamara Kamenszain, Argentina (2011) 
==Anthology==
*Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention (2017) 
==In the media==
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==References==
==External links==
* Seth Michelson | NEA
* Seth Michelson, Associate Professor of Spanish : Washington
* “Poetry, like bread, is for everyone”: A Conversation with Seth Michelson
* Seth Michelson | Latin American Literature Today
* Books | Seth Michelson
* Seth Michelson | new york journal of books
* Seth Michelson - Words Without Borders
Category:1975 births
Category:Living people
Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni
Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni
Category:University of Southern California alumni
Category:Washington and Lee University faculty
Category:21st-century American poets
Category:American male poets
Category:21st-century American male writers