Seth Michelson Set to Publish New Book in October The associate professor of Spanish shares the stories of undocumented youth held in detention centers and refugee camps in the United States and Mexico.

By Lily Caldwell
May 9, 2025

Seth Michelson, associate professor of Spanish at Washington and Lee University, has written a new book set to be released by Morehouse Publishing in October 2025.

Michelson’s forthcoming book, titled “Hope on the Border: Immigration, Incarceration, and the Power of Poetry,” explores stories of undocumented youth being held in detention centers in the United States. For three years, Michelson led poetry workshops at a restrictive maximum security detention center where unaccompanied youth were held in isolation, and he even involved W&L undergraduate students in his work inside the facility for one semester.

The book also takes readers inside other sites of importance to the U.S. immigration system. These include the largest family detention center in the U.S., specifically designed to incarcerate mothers with their children, and the largest refugee camp to have emerged on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Through these stories, Michelson shares the struggles, hopes and dreams of migrating people and the lived experience of those attempting to escape violence and poverty in their home country. The resulting book showcases the intricacies of the American immigration system and inspires readers to act on behalf of the powerless and advocate for change.

“The culmination of decades of intensive research, travel and fieldwork, this book offers readers a factual, expansive and intimate look into the realities of our immigration system, which the vast majority of people in the U.S. wish to see revised,” said Michelson. “And perhaps this book can help to contribute to such change by adding to readers’ knowledge and understanding of the policies and practices of our nation.”

A member of the W&L faculty since 2014, Michelson has published 24 books of original poetry and poetry in translation, including the bilingual poetry anthology “Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention.” He is director of the Center for Poetic Research, which he founded, and is head of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies program. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies and writing seminars from Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Fine Arts degree in writing (poetry) from Sarah Lawrence College. He earned both master’s and doctorate degrees in comparative literature from the University of Southern California.

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