Poet Valzhyna Mort and author Nafissa Thompson-Spires will read from their respective works as part of the Richard Cleaveland Memorial Reading. The readings will be followed by a live Q&A moderated by writer and professor J. Robert Lennon.
The works of both Professor Mort and Professor Thompson-Spires explore the power of personal stories to challenge historical narratives and collective identities.
Professor Mort will read from her most recent collection, “Music for the Dead and Resurrected,” described by the publisher as a “book of letters to the dead” in which “the prize-winning poet relearns how to mourn those erased by violent history” and hopes to create a space of coping and awakening.
Professor Thompson-Spires will read from her most recent book, “Heads of the Colored People,” an award-winning short-story collection that offers a strong sense of the range of contemporary Black literature and Black culture and encourages readers to move beyond reading to activism.
The Richard Cleaveland Memorial Reading was created in 2002 by family and friends of Richard Cleaveland, Cornell Class of ’74, to honor his memory. This is the first virtual event in the Spring 2021 Barbara & David Zalaznick Reading Series: Together.
