Van Van Cleave (b. 1995) is an editor, writer, and painter based in Oakland, CA. Through their nonfiction, they seek to translate complex ideas into accessible and actionable information. Through their visual and literary art, they seek to explore themes of metamorphosis, emphasizing the complex joy and grief that comes from living in liminal identities.
 
Professionally, their edited books have been published through Yale University Press, Chronicle Books, and Callisto Media. Their visual art has appeared in galleries such as The Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, the List Art Center, the Lamont Gallery, and Burlap Coffee. Their literary works have been showcased in numerous publications, including Thin Noon, Clerestory, The Round, and The Sketchbook. They received honors in Literary Arts from Brown University for their first novel, What You Don't Know That You Don't Know, and earned second place in The Isis Magazine's "500" flash fiction competition.
 
They are currently querying their third novel A Better Place Now, in which the former members of a prep school grief support group are forced to reunite when new evidence is revealed about their involvement in the death of one of the members during their spring break trip twenty years ago.