Seth Michelson
{{Short description|American poet}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Seth Michelson
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| image = Seth Michelson leyendo.jpg
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| caption = Seth Michelson visiting the Catholic University of Uruguay in July 2022.
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| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1975|10|10}}
| birth_place = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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| occupation = Professor, Founder of the Center for Poetic Research
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| nationality = American
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| alma_mater = Johns Hopkins University,
Sarah Lawrence College,
University of Southern California
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| genre = Poetry
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| notableworks = Eyes Like Broken Windows (2012), Swimming Through Fire (2017), Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention (2017), Women of the Big Sky (2020), Rengo (2022), The Sun of Always (2022)
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| awards = 2018 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 2022 U.S. Fulbright Scholar
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| website = {{URL|http://sethmichelson.com/}}
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Seth Michelson (born 1975), is an 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,[http://6j34kcz8c01c.slc.edu/magazine/global-citizen/alumni/publications.html 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.{{Cite web|title=CSLC Alumni and Placements > Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture > USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences|url=http://dornsifelive.usc.edu/cslc/alumni-and-placements/|website=dornsifelive.usc.edu}}
Poetry
He is the author of 19 volumes of original poetry, poetry in translation, and anthologies of poetry.
He has been credited with "seeking transformation through opposition", with his poems having "at their core an acknowledgement of love—a love of family, love of language and poetry, love of music and nature. And it is through love that perhaps we can find the strength to face the greatest fears that lie ahead."{{Cite web|url=http://www.theadirondackreview.com/book146.html/|title=The Adirondack Review}}
His teaching, writing, and translations address injustice through compassion. This includes his translation of female poets and his 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."{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/chiricu.2.2.26|title=Chiricú Journal: Latino/a Literatures, Arts, and Cultures|year=2018|doi=10.2979/chiricu.2.2.26|jstor=10.2979/chiricu.2.2.26|last1=Montse Feu|journal=Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures|volume=2|issue=2|pages=234–237|url-access=subscription}}
His most recent book of original poetry in English is Swimming Through Fire (2017),{{Cite web|url=https://www.press53.com/poetry-collections/cig0izoq6e5yoke9z0lm8bcyusp07z|title=Swimming Through Fire by Seth Michelson|website=Press 53}} and it has been translated into Serbian as Plivanje kroz vatru (2020) by Vida Ognjenovic.{{Cite web|url=http://www.sethmichelson.com/books/| title=Books | Seth Michelson }}
His most recent book of original poetry in Spanish is Rengo (2024), from internationally esteemed Valparaíso Ediciones.{{Cite web|url=https://valparaisoediciones.es/tienda/poesia/813-391-rengo.html|title=Rengo}}
His most recent book of poetry in translation is The Sun of Always (2022),{{Cite web|url=https://www.eulaliabooks.com/catalog/the-sun-of-always/|title=The Sun of Always}} and it is trilingual, featuring the poetry in Mapudungun, Spanish, and English.
Dreaming America
Michelson compiled, edited, and translated the poetry for the anthology Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention (2017).{{Cite web|url=http://www.settlementhouse.us/dreaming-america|title=Dreaming America|website=Settlement House}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/03/19/594839346/advocates-say-teen-migrants-need-help-not-held-in-detention-facilities|title=Advocates Say Teen Migrants Need Help, Not Detention Facilities|website=NPR.org}}
The book is widely acclaimed, receiving praise in academic and public venues.{{Cite web|url=https://www.poetrycenterpccc.com/news-winners|title=News & Winners|website=The Poetry Center at PCCC|date=April 2023 }}{{Cite journal|url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/697756|title=Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention ed. by Seth Michelson (review)|first=Montse|last=Feu|date=June 25, 2018|journal=Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures|volume=2|issue=2|pages=234–237|doi=10.2979/chiricu.2.2.26|via=Project MUSE|url-access=subscription}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.backstoryradio.org/shows/best-of-nathan/|title=Best of BackStory}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2018/january/dreaming-america-voices-undocumented-youth-maximum-security-detention|title=Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention |date=December 7, 2017|website=World Literature Today}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com/features/november-2017-exemplars-poetry-reviews-by-grace-cavalieri|title=November 2017 Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri | Washington Independent Review of Books|website=www.washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsleader.com/story/news/2018/06/21/immigrant-children-asylum-america-border-journey-personal-risk-poetry/713330002/|title=These immigrant children risked everything to seek asylum in America|first=Jeff|last=Schwaner|website=The News Leader}}{{Cite web|url=https://roanoke.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-voiceless-migrant-children-speak-through-their-art-and-it-ought-to-break-your-heart/article_03b569c5-4f3c-5b30-a1ab-a3e30fde1e3a.html|title=Editorial: Voiceless migrant children speak through their art and it ought to break your heart|website=Roanoke Times|date=5 August 2018 }} 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,{{Cite web|url=https://www.whsv.com/content/news/Poetry-anthology-gives-voice-to-immigrant-children-in-maximum-security-prisons-488407221.html|title=Poetry anthology gives voice to immigrant children in prisons|first=Monica|last=Casey|website=www.whsv.com|date=17 July 2018 }} NPR,{{cite web|url=https://www.wmra.org/post/tales-self-harm-suicide-attempts-valley-detention-center-immigrant-children#stream/0|title=ales of Self-Harm, Suicide Attempts at Valley Detention Center for Immigrant Children|last=Knadler|first=Jessie|date=14 December 2017|access-date=6 February 2021}} BBC,{{Webarchive| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000kwwz|}} and la diaria of Uruguay.{{Cite web|url=https://ladiaria.com.uy/cultura/articulo/2020/3/sonar-america-entre-rejas/|title=Soñar América entre rejas|date=March 13, 2020|website=la diaria}} Dreaming America also has been featured at book festivals around the world, and it has been turned into original plays and music.{{Cite web|url=https://www.c-ville.com/welcome-theatre-chs-repurposes-immigrants-poetry-prose-unprecedented-play/|title=All are welcome: Theatre CHS repurposes immigrants' poetry, prose for unprecedented play|date=September 17, 2018}} All proceeds from its sale go to a legal defense fund for incarcerated, undocumented youth.{{Cite web|url=https://www.caircoalition.org/2017/07/31/dreaming-america-voices-of-undocumented-youth-in-maximum-security-detention |title=Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention |website=www.caircoalition.org|date=31 July 2017 }}
Boquete: poemas de personas libres
Published in 2023, this anthology features poetry by men in a men's prison in Uruguay, la Unidad N°6 del I.N.R.{{Cite book|url=https://liberi.ucu.edu.uy/xmlui/handle/10895/1793|title=Boquete|date=January 22, 2023|publisher=Universidad Católica del Uruguay |isbn=978-9915-9485-6-0 }} Therein Michelson led weekly poetry workshops throughout his time as a Fulbright scholar, creating a vibrant series of workshops that continues to run to this day with his collaboration. The initial project involved bringing students and faculty from Universidad Católica del Uruguay into the prison to write in partnership each week with incarcerated men under Michelson's guidance, and their collective work attracted widespread media attention. {{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYbSD6ADcg | title=La cárcel de Punta de Rieles tendrá un taller de poesía | website=YouTube | date=24 May 2022 }} {{Cite web|url=https://soundcloud.com/radio-carve/entrevista-seth-michelson |title=Entrevista Seth Michelson }} {{Cite web|url=https://www.ucu.edu.uy/Institucionales/Una-maquina-de-esperanza-uc859 |title=Una máquina de esperanza }}
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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.arts.gov/content/seth-michelson|title=Seth Michelson|date=November 16, 2017|website=NEA}} 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.{{Cite web|url=https://susangillis.blogspot.com/2020/04/ancalao-and-michelson-trilingual.html|title=CONCRETE & RIVER: ANCALAO AND MICHELSON: A TRILINGUAL ARGENTINE ROAD POEM|date=April 27, 2020}}
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.{{Cite web|url=https://my.wlu.edu/center-for-poetic-research|title=Center for Poetic Research : Washington and Lee University|website=my.wlu.edu}}
Poetry
- Rengo (2024) {{ISBN|978-84-10073-08-1}}
- Rengo (2022) {{ISBN|978-9915-656-63-2}}
- Swimming through Fire (2017) {{ISBN|978-1-941209-51-6}}
- Eyes Like Broken Windows (2012) {{ISBN|978-1-935708-55-1}}
- House in a Hurricane (2010)
- Kaddish for My Unborn Son (2009)
- Maestro of Brutal Splendor (2005)
Poetry in translation
- The Sun of Always by Liliana Ancalao, Puelmapu (2022) {{ISBN|978-1-7329363-9-3}}
- Women of the Big Sky by Liliana Ancalao, Puelmapu (2020) {{ISBN|978-1-944585-43-3}}
- The Ghetto by Tamara Kamenszain, Argentina (2018) {{ISBN|978-0-9969134-8-5}}
- Wings by Amir Or, Israel (2018) {{ISBN|978-1-944697-55-6}}
- The Red Song by Melisa Machado, Uruguay (2018) {{ISBN|978-0-900575-98-3}}
- Scripted in the Streams by Rati Saxena, India (2017)
- Poems from the Disaster by Zulema Moret, Argentina (2016) {{ISBN|978-84-7839-641-2}}
- 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) {{ISBN|0-9788231-6-8}}
Anthologies
- Boquete: poemas de personas libres (2023) {{ISBN|978-9915-94-856-0}}
- Antología de Poesía Slam de Macedonia (2023), co-edited with Dr. Khedija Gadhoum {{ISBN|978-9942-45-053-1}}
- Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention (2017) {{ISBN|978-0-9859468-9-0}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.sethmichelson.com/ Website]
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Category:Sarah Lawrence College alumni
Category:Washington and Lee University faculty
Category:21st-century American poets
Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni
Category:University of Southern California alumni