The Richard Cleaveland Memorial Reading by Dante Micheaux and Alex Gilvarry
Thursday, February 19, 5 p.m.
Rhodes-Rawlings Auditorium, Klarman Hall KG70

The Spring 2026 Barbara & David Zalaznick Creative Writing Reading Series kicks off with the Richard Cleaveland Memorial Reading featuring Dante Micheaux, Poet, and Alex Gilvarry, fiction writer.

Dante Micheaux is the author of Circus, which won the Four Quartets Prize from the Poetry Society of America and the T. S. Eliot Foundation, and Amorous Shepherd. His poems and translations have appeared in African American Review; The American Poetry Review; Callaloo; Literary Imagination; Poem¬-A-Day; Poetry; and Tongue—among other journals and anthologies. Micheaux’s other honors include the Oscar Wilde Award, an Amy Clampitt Residency, the Ambit Prize, and a fellowship from The New York Times Foundation. He is a Fellow and Artistic Director at Cave Canem Foundation. Micheaux’s most recent work is the libretto Sky in a Small Cage.

Alex Gilvarry is the author of From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant, winner of the Hornblower Award for First Fiction (from the New York Society Library), Best New Voice by Bookspan, a Barnes & Noble Discover Pick, and selected by the New York Times as an Editor’s Choice. He’s a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 award-winner and has received fellowships from the Harry Ransom Center and the Normal Mailer Center.  He's been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome and Wesleyan University. And his essays and criticism have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Nation, Boston Globe, NPR’s All Things Considered, among others. His second novel, Eastman Was Here, was nominated for the PEN Open Book Award. He's an Associate Professor of the Practice at Cornell University where he teaches creative writing.

The Richard Cleaveland Memorial Reading was created in 2002 by family and friends of Richard Cleaveland, Cornell Class of ’74, to honor his memory.

Reception and book signing to follow in the English Lounge, 258 Goldwin Smith Hall

Free and open to the public

Book signing and reception to follow the reading.

We are proud to partner with Buffalo Street Books at this event. Buffalo Street Books is Ithaca’s only non-profit independent bookstore, dedicated to serving its community through books and literary programming. Katie Kitamura’s books are available online, in-store, and on-site at the reading. Show your student ID at BSB and get 10% off every day!

FREE & OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Masking is encouraged.

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals, including individuals with disabilities, to engage fully. To be respectful of those with allergies and environmental sensitivities, we ask that you please refrain from wearing strong fragrances. The venue is wheelchair accessible and equipped with assistive listening technology. If you need additional accommodations to participate in this event, please contact us as soon as possible.

For more information about this event visit english.cornell.edu/zalaznick or email englishevents@cornell.edu. 

This event is presented by the Department of Literatures in English / Creative Writing Program at Cornell University.