January 14, 2026 10am-11:30am

BLFC with Seth Michelson, author of "Hope on the Border"

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Seth Michelson is an award-winning poet, translator, and professor, specializing in poetry, migration, and state power.  He has published twenty-three books, including collections of original poetry, poetry in translation, and anthologies, as well as numerous essays, articles, and book chapters on poetry, often focused on intersections of poetry and state violence.  He resides in Virginia, where he teaches the poetry of the hemispheric Americas. There he also founded and directs the Center for Poetic Research.

Our interviewer will be longtime BCA friend and advocate, Alyson Ball, good friend of our author, so this promises to be a lively and inspirational exchange. You'll also want to join Alyson by Zoom or in person at 2 p.m. that same afternoon for another free BCA event: "How Did We Get Here? 2025 U.S. Immigration Policy at the Southern Border and Within"   Alyson will review what occurred during 2025, explore how border issues influenced the national situation, and discuss how national policies are impacting both the southern border and interior communities nationwide. 

By learning and sharing the stories of migrating people fleeing violence and poverty, and by leading workshops for minors held inside a maximum-security detention center, Seth Michelson faces the U.S. immigration crisis head on.  Guided through the powerful medium of poetry, children share their pasts, struggles, hopes, and dreams.

Among them, Carlitos, a 13-year-old boy who escaped a gang to try to make a safe and honest life on his own after his mother’s death, and Karla, a teenager whose family begged her to flee for safety after she was shot.  They and other children from similar circumstances express themselves with honesty, passion, and optimism for a better future.  Michelson also introduces us to migrating people at the border, including a woman who was chased from her home amid violence, and a dedicated father who was arrested and beaten while searching for work to make a more secure life for his wife and daughter.
 
Whether relating experiences in a Mexican refugee camp or a U.S. immigration detention center, Michelson’s prose is brisk and gripping, offering hard—earned insights into ways we might create a better immigration system that treats all people with dignity.

“Michelson gives a voice to the voiceless by sharing poetry written by children in a detention center in rural Virginia and the stories of asylum seekers along the U.S. border. Through behind-the-scenes looks at the U.S. immigration detention system, Michelson also portrays the grueling nature of the work that immigration attorneys, interpreters, students, and volunteers undertake in an effort to ensure that detainees secure their freedom and legal status in the United States. This is a must-read in light of the current assault on due process for immigrants in the U.S.           ― Jessica L. Yañez, Attorney at Law, NC Board Certified Specialist in Immigration Law

“Seth Michelson’s poems, one after another, wrangle the brutal and broken world into something that sings. This is hard work, and good work.”
~ Ross Gay, Against Which