Faculty

Profile

Cleyvis Natera is an award-winning author, essayist, and critic. Her debut novel, Neruda on the Park, was a New York Times Editor's Choice and was awarded a Silver Medal by the International Latino Book Awards for Best First Book of Fiction. Her work has appeared in Kirkus, The New York Times Book Review, TIME, The Washington Post, USA TODAY, Pleiades, The Kenyon Review, Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal, among others. Natera has received awards, fellowships and artist residencies by the Vermont Studio Center, PEN America, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and Hermitage Artist Retreat, among others. She was the recipient of the prestigious Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference 2024 Toni Morrison Fiction Fellowship. She is currently a Fulbright Specialist through April 2027. She joined Montclair State University in the fall of 2024 as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing where she currently leads the development of an M.F.A. program with a bilingual emphasis. Natera is also part of the creative writing faculty at Barnard College of Columbia University and The New School M.F.A. program. Natera’s second novel, The Grand Paloma Resort, is forthcoming in 2025.