Rate My Professor Seth Michelson

Seth Michelson serves as Associate Professor of Spanish and Program Head of Latin American and Caribbean Studies at Washington and Lee University, where he joined the faculty in 2014. He founded and directs the Center for Poetic Research. Michelson holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Southern California, an M.F.A. in Writing (Poetry) from Sarah Lawrence College, an M.A. Equivalent Bilingual (Spanish) California Clear Teaching Credential from LAUSD’s District Intern Program, and a B.A. in Latin American Studies and Writing Seminars from Johns Hopkins University. His teaching portfolio includes courses such as Introduction to Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Spanish-American Poetry, Poetry and Power, Poetry Workshop, and Poetry in Times of Crisis: Latin American Poetry in Translation. Michelson’s research centers on Latin American poetry, aesthetics, translation theory, feminist poetics, state violence, colonialism, and neoliberalism.

Michelson has authored original poetry collections including Hope on the Border: Immigration, Incarceration, and the Power of Poetry (Morehouse Publishing, 2025), Swimming through Fire (Press 53, 2017), and Eyes Like Broken Windows (Press 53, 2012), the latter winning the 2013 International Book Awards in Poetry. He has translated works such as The Sun of Always by Liliana Ancalao (Eulalia Books, 2022), Women of the Big Sky by Liliana Ancalao (Word Works, 2020), and The Ghetto by Tamara Kamenszain (Veliz Books, 2018). Notable scholarly publications include “Becoming a Witness: Jimmy Santiago Baca” in The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Literature and Mass Incarceration (Cambridge University Press, 2024), “When Silenced Language Sings: Poetry, State Violence, and the Mapuche Memory-Making of Liliana Ancalao” in A Contracorriente (2024), and “Poetic Difference: How Emplaced Writing Influences Lives in Prison” in Teaching Literature and Writing in Prisons (MLA, 2023). He received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship for poetry translation in 2017 and has been a Fulbright Scholar. Michelson conducts poetry workshops with incarcerated undocumented youth, compiling anthologies like Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention (Settlement House, 2017), contributing to discussions on immigration, incarceration, and poetic resistance.