Word Up welcomes award-winning professor Seth Michelson to discuss his new book Hope on the Border: Immigration, Incarceration, and the Power of Poetry, a humanizing story of immigration shown through the lens of undocumented, unaccompanied children and the poems they write. In conversation with Michelson will be David C. Baluarte, an immigration attorney and CUNY law professor.

“Heartfelt . . . a surprisingly uplifting call to reform an unjust system.” -Publishers Weekly

This event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 30 max attendees. Please register in advance.

In compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees for this event are encouraged to stay masked.

Recirculation, a project of Word Up Community Bookshop, is located at 876 Riverside Drive (near 160th St.) in Washington Heights, NYC. You can take the 1 train to 157th St., A/C train to 163rd St., and the M4 and M5 to Broadway and 159/160th.

ABOUT THE BOOK

In heart-wrenching prose, Seth Michelson faces the U.S. immigration crisis head on-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. Highlighting the experiences of people desperate for safety, Michelson tirelessly fights for justice and their freedom. Guided through the powerful medium of poetry, the 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. Remarkably, 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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Seth Michelson is an award-winning professor who has gained recognition from the National Endowment of the Arts and the Fulbright Foundation. He is the author of academic articles, book introductions, film and book reviews, and fourteen books of poetry and poetry in translation. His work has been published in English and Spanish in Argentina, Mexico, England, and Italy, among other countries. He currently teaches at Washington and Lee University in Virginia where he is the chair of Latin American and Caribbean Studies. He lives in Charlottesville, Virginia.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

David C. Baluarte (he/él) joined CUNY School of Law as the Senior Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and a Professor of Law in January 2024. Baluarte is an advocate, teacher, and scholar in the areas of immigration, refugee and statelessness protection, and international human rights. He has written numerous journal articles, academic studies, human rights reports, and participated in various grant-funded projects and high-profile impact litigation initiatives in these areas.