Editorial Board
Editor-in-Chief
Cosima Hull Pellis is a current MALS student concentrating in creative writing. She is a Technical Writer in the immigration law field and a Reader for Harvard Review. Cosima enjoys dancing, exploring the inspiring landscape of the Upper Valley, chatting with friends over coffee, and spending time with her cat, who has yet to write her a poem but provides excellent moral support while she writes hers. Reading and writing are the most compelling means of survival she has found so far and have shaped her life in enduring ways.
Editorial Board Members
Mackintosh Bennett writes literary fiction. His work—playful, destabilizing, and formally inventive—often engages with repression, power, and the quiet absurdities of ordinary life. He is particularly drawn to the fragile boundary between the ordinary and the strange, the mundane and catastrophic, driven by a deep skepticism of authority, hypocrisy, and polite pretenses. His writing draws inspiration from experimental fiction traditions, psychedelic music, contemporary art, and Western philosophy. His work has been supported by the Hopkins Center and by the Davin Polk Fund for the Arts. Currently, he is finishing his graduate studies at Dartmouth College, where he serves as a teaching assistant for First-Year Writing. He also serves as a judge for the Robert Traver Award, administered by the John D. Voelker Foundation. He divides his time between Vermont and Cape Cod.
Laura K. Cunningham is a first-year student in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth. Originally from North Carolina, she earned her B.A. in English and Comparative Literature with a second major in Linguistics from UNC-Chapel Hill. Her creative interests lie primarily in creative nonfiction, where Laura gravitates toward themes of girlhood, belonging, and memory. Beyond her writing, she enjoys watching trashy television and cuddling with her cat, Nosferatu (yes, like the vampire). This is her first edition of Clamantis as a Board Member.
Andrew Moore is a writer and musician living in Vermont where he teaches teenagers to be better writers and musicians than he is. He once punched an active world heavyweight champion, twice. He likes to ride his motorcycle across things but these days, mostly just rides it around. Andrew hiked the Appalachian Trail, rally raced around Africa, and so far, has woken up every day. He has been longlisted and shortlisted for both poetry and fiction. He prefers this to winning; his head is too big anyway.
Chelsee Niebergall is a current MALS student with a concentration in Cultural Studies. She is deeply passionate about exploring the intersections of literature, identity, and societal narratives. Chelsee’s research interests lie in feminist and gender studies, contemporary romance literature, as well as innovative creative writing practices.
Isdaly Reyes is a graduate student concentrating on Creative Writing at Dartmouth College. Her writing has taken a new form as the world around her seems to stay the same but also continuously changes. Her pieces center around her frustrations, sadness and confusion at the state of the country. She hopes for her readers to find a sense of relatability and, if not, then a new lens. She knows it’s a lot to ask of her readers but she believes the world needs new voices and needs community more than ever.
Keehan S. White is a second-year MALS student with a concentration in Creative Writing. Keehan enjoys humorously failing at hobbies like rock climbing, woodworking, painting, and playing the mini trumpet. He writes to explore the nature of memory, nostalgia, and perception.
Faculty Advisor
Anna Minardi has been working at Dartmouth since 2001. A senior lecturer in the Department of French and Italian, she served as language course coordinator while teaching Italian at all levels. She holds a degree in Veterinary Medicine and completed her MALS degree in 2010 with a thesis in Creative Writing. In 2014 she was invited to join the MALS program to teach a course on methodology as it pertains to the writing process and joined the Clamantis team. In Winter 2020 she started co-teaching a course entitled “Writing Nature: Reflections from Within and Without,” which gave her an opportunity to explore with students one of her lifelong interests, the intersection of the sciences and humanities.
Editors
Tess Reid (see under Contributors)
Mindy Wren (see under Contributors)
Assistant Editors
Arina Petrova is a third-year MALS student in creative writing. She lives in the Upper Valley with a beta fish and four children. Once, she wrote and illustrated a book for her kids and decided to move forward in her writing experiments.
Janiely Vazquez Arocho is an aspiring author hoping to share stories that can resonate with others and also make them laugh. Nearing the beginning of her thesis journey, she hopes that she can continue reading and writing stories.
Aurora J. Miller (see under Contributors)
Ileana Knight is in the MALS program with a concentration in cultural studies. Her research interests include art history, gender and sexuality studies, political and social movements, and how to build structures that are effective in providing equity and justice.
Elysee Sadia is a graduate student in the MALS program at Dartmouth, with a background in journalism and philosophy—a combination that makes them equally skilled at asking tough questions and overthinking the answers. They enjoy writing, reading, traveling, and chasing the perfect cup of coffee, which they insist exists somewhere in the world. Elysee aspires to pursue a career in law, where their knack for storytelling and love of logic will (hopefully) make them a force to be reckoned with—or at least a delightfully caffeinated litigator.
Camila Paola Salinas is a current MALS student.
Joyce Xiao is a Master’s student in the MALS program at Dartmouth College, concentrating in Cultural Studies. She began the program this summer and anticipates graduating in 2029. Her interest in Cultural Studies is informed by extensive experience in hosting and supporting a wide range of cultural programs, which has strengthened her commitment to sharing traditions, learning from diverse perspectives, and fostering inclusive communities.
Rachel Lemley is a first year PhD student studying Alzheimer’s and development disorders in the neuroscience program at Dartmouth. While she loves research, her deeper passion is writing short horror stories and competitively figure skating.
Alumni Editors
Ed Ting (see under Contributors)
Behishta Sadaat is a MALS alum with a Cultural Studies/Medical Humanities concentration. She is from Kabul, Afghanistan, with a public health and policy making background. She has been a human rights and women’s activist. She was recognized as the “Best Performer in Women’s Rights” by Asia awards in 2020-2021. Currently, she works at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.
Lilabeth Martchenke is a graduate of the MALS program. They are an aspiring Urban Fantasy novelist and a renowned (not really) Game Master for several homebrew TTRPG games set in a wild world and setting of their own design and making. They have served on the Clamantis Editorial Board for a few editions now and plan on continuing, to spread enjoyment and entertainment through their communities.
Wendy Murphy recently completed her degree in creative writing from the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth College. She graduated from Duke University School of Nursing and became the Head Nurse, now an antiquated term, in the ICU at Mary Hitchcock Memorial Hospital in Hanover, N.H. She followed this with a long career in continuing nursing and medical education at DHMC. After retiring in 2023, she is now a full-time curious person.
Kasey Mossey graduated from the MALS program in 2018 with a concentration in creative writing. She lives in Wyoming where she finds daily levity, joy, chaos, and adventure in raising her young son alongside her husband and loyal cockapoo. She is currently involved with a local nonprofit focused on women in the arts.
Rachel Bates is a creative and critical writer originally from Johnson City, TN. Her poetry has appeared in Appalachian Review, Broad River Review, and among other journals. Her critical research focuses on ecological futures and topographic temporalities that manifest in Contemporary Appalachian literature. Additionally, as someone who spent many years working in public schools, she has a strong research interest in writing pedagogy with a focus on K-16 writing instruction. Currently, she serves on MLA’s K-16 Alliances Committee.
Teresa Lust is the author of A Blissful Feast, Culinary Adventures in Italy’s Piedmont, Maremma, and Le Marche, published by Pegasus Books. Her previous book, Pass the Polenta: and Other Writings from the Kitchen, was published by Steerforth Press. She holds a Master’s degree from Dartmouth College and currently teaches Italian for the Rassias Center for World Languages at Dartmouth.
Justine Crowling Guarini ’18, is editor-in-chief of Tuck Today magazine and director of content strategy and marketing at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. During her time at Guarini, she studied creative writing and served as editor of Clamantis. Her personal writing, including a three-part novella, explores addiction, family, and sense of place. She lives in the Portland, ME area with her husband, toddler, and three dogs.
Satya Kandala is a writer and former journalist with an MA in Creative Writing from Dartmouth College. Shaped by her early years in Mumbai’s newsrooms, she examined family, feminism, and memory in her novella-length thesis, In Her Time. She continues to chase stories—for the joy of it and because she can’t resist a good turn of phrase.
Yingyi Wang holds an MA in Comparative Literature from Dartmouth College. Her research interests lie in media history and theory, poetry, and cinema. She also enjoys reading and writing short stories, especially when related to history, memory, and nature. Currently, as a research assistant in Hong Kong, she is immersed in historical materials during the Opium War.
Cover Art
Shanna McNair illustrated debut novel Soul Retrieval was released in 2025, via her press, High Frequency. She is a Dartmouth Creative Writing MALS graduate (Summa Cum Laude).
Contributors
Ed Ting is a well-known amateur astronomer whose works have appeared in Sky & Telescope, Skywatch, Astronomy, Discover, and Popular Mechanics magazines. He is a National Science Foundation Ambassador to Chile, a Mission Patagonia ambassador, and a NASA Solar System Ambassador. His YouTube channel has 74,000 subscribers and gets two million views a year. Ed is a past winner of the NH State Flash Fiction contest, and was selected as Writer-in –Residence at the Writer’s Center for the Fine Arts in Edgartown, Massachusetts. He teaches creative writing at New England College and at the Truro Center for the Fine Arts on Cape Cod. Ed holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, an MFA from New England College, and a MALS degree from Dartmouth, where he produced an award-winning thesis on astronomical imaging.
Suhavi Suhavi is a graduate student in Computer Science at Dartmouth’s Guarini School. She has a background in Data Science and published research, passionate about applying AI and machine learning to environmental conservation challenges. She has spent several years backpacking through the Indian Himalayas, documenting their vast scale, rich biodiversity and quiet resilience.
Cassidy Metzger grew up in Chicago, Illinois before completing her undergraduate in St. Louis, Missouri and joining Guarini as a PhD student. Her poetry is largely inspired by the overlaps between art, science, and the mundanities of every day life. Outside of writing and research, she enjoys reading, hiking, various (often unfinished) artistic endeavors, and appeasing her very spoiled cat.
Jonathan Champagne is an award-winning screenwriter, musician, and independent filmmaker. He is a current student in the MALS - Creative Writing program and also works at Dartmouth College’s Hopkins Center for the Arts.
Shanna McNair (see under Cover Art)
Brittney A. Roden is a current MALS student (‘26) in the Cultural Studies concentration, exploring the intersections of identity, family, and daily life through creative writing. Her work examines the many roles we inhabit, the pressures society and we ourselves impose, and the ways we navigate noise—both external and internal—while seeking connection, care, and meaning. Her piece reflects her interest in capturing the rhythms, anxieties, and resilience of everyday life.
Heyi Xie is a MALS student who enjoys driving through the New England winter. Through whatever form of writing, she tries to use observation and language to capture our confusion and our pride.
Aurora J. Miller is a current MALS student with a Creative Writing concentration. Originally from Portland, Oregon, her background includes television/film, video game development, and the non-profit sector. She is committed to finding ways to use storytelling to address the global challenges we all face.
Caden P. Ide is a student in the MALS Program at Dartmouth College, concentrating in Creative Writing, and working to construct a science fiction saga through stories and art that detail the development of a celestial society. Originally from Fort Wayne, Indiana, he received his Bachelor of Arts in English from Florida Gulf Coast University. He is currently the President of the Dartmouth Writers Society.
Tess A. Reid is a first-year student in the Master of Arts and Liberal Studies program. After earning her BA in Studio Arts from Loyola Marymount University, she traveled widely, filling notebooks with observations and reflections. Her work explores what separates people and what brings them together using poetry and personal essay.
Amelia Gilchrist was born and raised in the Upper Valley. She currently lives in Hartford, Vermont. She received her Associate’s of Arts in Liberal Studies at Community College of Vermont and her Bachelor’s of Arts in Psychology at Northern Vermont University. Her poems have been published locally in Randolph’s and Hartford’s PoemTown. Her poetry and prose embraces rural New England life, her connection with nature, and her experiences during her fine dining career.
Jenn Campbell Cormack is a South Carolina artist and writer with a BS in Architecture from The Georgia Institute of Technology and a MALS degree with a concentration in Creative Writing. A member of the Oil Painters of America and the Waccamaw Arts & Crafts Guild, her painting collections can be found in businesses, schools, and residences throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North & South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, and Sri Lanka. She teaches drawing and painting to students from ages three to ninety-three, as well as poetry, screenwriting, literature, and composition. Her vibrant color choices mirror a life filled with the joy of learning.
Michael Hoytworks at Dartmouth and is in his first year of MALS. He lives in West Hartford, Vermont and serves in the Vermont House of Representatives.
Christian J. Martino is a graduate student in the MALS program. He considers himself a humorist and an unqualified professional of many important things. He is an Army Veteran, musician, and Yankee Fan. He has a general distrust of most cats and some human beings. He enjoys writing poetry and creative non-fiction.
Benjamin Stanislav grew up in Dallas and came to Dartmouth to get his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience. As a member of the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, he researches language and communication.
Mindy Wrenis an essayist and creative writing student in the MALS program. She is a recovering extrovert and hopes to be influenced by Ann Patchett.