Now retired from The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, I am now focusing on my writing. I am seeking representation for two works of fiction, TO GIVE AND TO GET and HOME REPAIR.
I grew up in Greensboro, N.C., and earned my bachelor’s degree from Agnes Scott College in the Atlanta area. My Ph.D. in English is from the University of Pennsylvania, and my book, Caroline Gordon as Novelist and Woman of Letters, was published (under the name, Rose Ann C. Fraistat), by Louisiana State University Press in 1984.
After grad school, I moved to the Washington area and turned to a career in the performing arts. I began at the University of Maryland in College Park by coordinating a chamber music project and writing grants. Over the years, I had the chance to lead an arts nonprofit and to develop performance series and educational programs for the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland and for Washington Performing Arts, another major presenting organization in the region.
In 2005, I joined The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation as Program Officer (Arts and Humanities). This position evolved into my dream job, and I became the Foundation’s Executive Director within a year. Through this philanthropic work, I also had the opportunity to serve on a number of boards and advisory groups in the D.C. region and nationally.
Currently, I’m serving on the Planning Committee for the Washington Writers Conference, a program of the Washington Independent Review of Books. Among other hobbies, I enjoy playing the banjo and the piano, and my grown kids say that I know way too many silly songs. My home is in Maryland.
Rose Ann Cleveland 