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X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://www.nomaanyc.org/
X-WR-CALNAME:Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance
X-WR-CALDESC:Serving the arts community in Northern Manhattan since 2007
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DTSTART:20260528T230000Z
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TRANSP:OPAQUE
SUMMARY:Seth Michelson’s HOPE ON THE BORDER with David C. Baluarte
DESCRIPTION: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. \n\n“Heartfelt . . . a surprisingly uplifting call to reform an unjust system.” -Publishers Weekly\n\nThis event is a $5 suggested donation ticket with 30 max attendees. Please register in advance.\nIn compliance with Word Up Community Safety guidelines, all attendees for this event are encouraged to stay masked.\nRecirculation, 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.\nABOUT THE BOOK\nIn 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.\nMichelson 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.\nWhether 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.\nABOUT THE AUTHOR\nSeth 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.\nABOUT THE MODERATOR\nDavid 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.\nWord Up Community Safety Guidelines\nCANCELLATION POLICY: Word Up Community Bookshop reserves the right to cancel events for any reason, including but not limited to safety concerns.\nCODE OF CONDUCT: Please note Word Up has a zero tolerance policy for harassment or intimidation of any kind during any event, virtual or in-person. Please read our Safe Space Policy ( https://www.wordupbooks.com/safe-space-policy ) for more information. Anyone violating these rules will be expelled from the event at the discretion of the organizers. Please report all harassment to events@wordupbooks.com ( mailto:events@wordupbooks.com ) immediately.\nPHOTOS & RECORDING: Events may be recorded, and video and photos may be posted on our website, social media, and elsewhere. If you would prefer not to be visible, please let a Word Up team member know. \nPRIVACY: Registrants will be added to the Word Up mailing list. Your contact information will never be shared or sold. You may unsubscribe or update your subscription at any time.\nACCESSIBILITY: Recirculation is a wheelchair-accessible space with one ramp from the street level down to the store. Most of the shelves are on wheels and can be moved to provide additional access. The bathrooms are not yet ADA compliant and do not yet have a changing table but are gender neutral. The events are mic’d for sound and videos are captioned when possible. Free ASL interpretation is available for most programs upon request. Please email events@wordupbooks.com to request interpretation as early as possible. If you have specific questions about the space or how an event can be made more accessible to you, please do not hesitate to contact us at info@wordupbooks.com.\nhttps://wordupbooks.com/event/2026-05-28/hope-on-the-border\n
URL:https://www.nomaanyc.org/events/seth-michelson/
ORGANIZER;CN=Word Up Community Bookshop / Librería Comunitaria:MAILTO:
CATEGORIES:Artist Talk,Reading/Spoken Word
LOCATION:876 Riverside Drive, New York, NY, USA
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://www.nomaanyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/WU_HopeOnBorder2_IG.png
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