Welcome Dante Micheaux & Matthew Raybeam to the Cave Canem Team!

We are delighted to announce new staff additions to the Cave Canem Team!
Dante Micheaux will be joining us as our Director of Programs. Matthew Raybeam joins us as our Communications and Engagement Assistant.
We are delighted to announce that Dante Micheaux (he/him/his) is Cave Canem’s new Director of Programs!
Dante is excited to continue in his work with Cave Canem in an even deeper capacity: “As Cave Canem prepares for its next 25 years of existence, it is important to have someone with a deep institutional knowledge contributing to the work of making a home Black poets and our poetries. That home is many things—and our programs are the doors and windows through which our community access its safety for and celebration of poems that choose not to be or are not welcome elsewhere. I plan to be of service primarily by reengaging our Fellowship and expanding its benefits. I also plan to refit and strengthen our partnerships for longevity in this new social climate. As a proverb, attributed to Ethiopia, states: one cannot build a house for last year’s summer!”
Dante Micheaux is the author of Amorous Shepherd and Circus, which won the Four Quartets Prize from the Poetry Society of America and the T. S. Eliot Foundation.
We are so excited to welcome Matthew Raybeam (he/they/she) as Cave Canem’s new Communication and Engagement Assistant!
In Matthew’s own words: “To have the honor to make people more aware of the present genius of Black poets is major for me. Because what Black poets are doing with American letters right now is unmatched. Right now, the mission is to support the work of Black poets through movement-focused initiatives and it is a joy for me to contribute to that effort.”
Matthew Ruby Jule Raybeam is a BlaQueer American multidisciplinary artist whose work explores Black queer aesthetics, relationships, and sanity using American letters via poetry, essay, music, stand-up comedy, video, and live presentation/installation. They earned an MFA in Creative Writing at The New School in New York City. Raybeam is a recipient of LAMBDA Literary Emerging Writers Fellowship, and has participated in Cave Canem, Winter Tangerine Review, and Wick Poetry Center writing workshops. Matthew’s writing is featured in BOMB Magazine, Racebaitr, Juked Poetry, Our Light Through Darkness Anthology, Emerge: 2019 Lambda Fellows Anthology, and other publications. They have presented work across the U.S. and internationally including: Hollywood City Hall, Pratt Institute, and Godsbanen Museum.