Editorial Board
Editor-in-Chief
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 and the Editor in Chief of Clamantis.
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.
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.
Cosima Pellis grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and is now living in White River Junction, Vermont. Currently in her second year in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth, she is a Board Member of the program’s literary journal, Clamantis, as well as a Reader for Harvard Review. Her poems have appeared in Clamantis, the Aubade and samfiftyfour, and her prose has appeared in The Inquisitive Eater: New School Food. Though she enjoys dancing, nature, and music, writing is the most effective means of survival she has found so far.
Keehan 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
Athena Grace is pursuing a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Creative Writing at Dartmouth College.
Laura 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 an Assistant Editor.
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.
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.
Clarissa Melendez is a first-year student in the MALS Program at Dartmouth.
Yiming Jia is a first-year MALS student focusing on globalization, with academic interests in modernization, revolution, and political history. She understands literature as a balance between interpretive openness and the capacity to empower its readers.
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. She is currently a first-year student in the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program at Dartmouth College. 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.
Assistant Editors
Mindy Wren is an essayist and creative writing student in the MALS program. She is a recovering extrovert and hopes to be influenced by Ann Patchett.
Ndinda Mwanza is a poet from Kenya completing a Master’s in Liberal Studies (Creative Writing) at Dartmouth College. Her work, guided by the belief that the fullness of the human condition belongs in literature, explores survival and shadows. She creates liminal spaces that invite audiences to revisit memory and interrogate it from new perspectives.
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.
Amanda Watson is the MALS admissions coordinator and is thrilled to be a part of the journal. She will be joining the MALS program in Cultural Studies in Winter of 2026. She is excited about practicing and improving her writing and editing skills as part of the editorial board of the Clamantis. Outside of writing and reading her hobbies include: following One Direction, watching basketball at all levels, and crocheting.
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.
Sherlyn She is a graduate student in the MALS program at Dartmouth, where she studies political economy, state power, and the lived realities of governance. A lifelong traveler who has visited more than forty countries and nearly a hundred cities, she writes from a multilingual and cross-cultural perspective shaped by a background that spans Asia, Europe, and the United States. She is drawn to stories about how ordinary people navigate power, society, memory, belonging, and migration, and she believes that languages, dogs, and moving between different worlds offer quiet lessons about freedom. Her work often explores themes of belonging, migration, and the complex spaces where personal narratives intersect with political structures.
Giselle Hart is a tall ship sailor and mariner, currently landlocked and pursuing her Masters of Arts in Liberal Studies at Dartmouth College. When she is not attempting to tame her disorderly love of maritime literature into scholarly research, you can probably find her packing and repacking her sea bag, wondering how many books is too many.
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.
Alumni Editors
Alhanouf Almaghrabi is a Dartmouth alumnus and an editor at Clamantis. She is a novelist who published three philosophical novels. Her thesis is also a philosophical novel. She is a poet and a playwright. She is a certified translator in both Arabic and English.
Maria Iriondo completed her MALS degree in 2023 with a concentration in creative writing. She received the MALS Byam Shaw-Brownstone Thesis Award for Farewell to Franco, a short story collection set at the end of a poignant chapter in Spain’s modern history. She’s the managing editor of a bilingual, yachting and lifestyle publication and a podcast and television producer. Currently, María is working on a short story collection set in Portugal around the time of the Carnation Revolution of 1974.
Ed Ting is a well-known amateur astronomer whose works have appeared in Sky & Telescope, Skywatch, Astronomy, Discover, and Popular Mechanics. He is a National Science Foundation Ambassador to Chile, a Mission Patagonia ambassador, and a NASA Solar System Ambassador. His science-themed YouTube channel has 65,000 subscribers and gets two million views a year. In addition to his science writing, Ed’s creative works have appeared in literary journals. He is a past winner of the NH State Flash Fiction contest and was selected as Writer–in–Residence at the Noepe Center for the Fine Arts in Edgartown, Massachusetts. He teaches creative writing at New England College and at various writing retreats across New England. 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. He is a retired Category 3 bicycle racer, a classical/New Age pianist, and an enthusiastic fudge confectioner.
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 after Dartmouth, to spread enjoyment and entertainment through their communities.
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.
Abigail Dollries is a graduate of the Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program, where she completed her thesis in the Cultural Studies and Medical Humanities concentration. During her time in the program, she served on the editorial board of Clamantis. Her previous publications include work in The Varsity, where she was a masthead member and lead video producer. Her academic interests focus on women’s history, material culture, and the history of medicine. She currently works as an archivist at the New Hampshire Historical Society. In her creative life, she enjoys writing, dance, film, and photography.
Vibha Vasanth is an alumna of the MALS program. She likes to write comedic stories, typically for children and young adults, often with a fantastical bent. When she isn’t reading or writing, Vibha can be found baking a newfound recipe in her kitchen or looking for the nearest cat willing to befriend her.
Ellie Nan Storck is a MALS alumna. She lives in Portland, Maine, where she works as an editor for a travel magazine, when she isn’t out exploring the great outdoors and the world beyond.
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
Joe Dwyer is a graduate of Dartmouth College 2006 as well as MALS 2011. He currently lives in Bozeman, Montana with his two labradors, Annabel and Joelle. He is still in close contact with professor Gerald “Jerry” Auten from Dartmouth who remains a mentor and a best friend. The greatest gift Dartmouth gave him was a passion for truth and knowledge: whether through books, art or any other media, he believes critical reasoning for oneself is an especially poignant essence of Dartmouth College.
Contributors
Ed Ting See under ‘Alumni Editors.’
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.
Caden P. Ide See under ‘Editor in Chief.’
Reng Zhao is a graduate student in the MALS program with a concentration in creative writing. Her interests include fiction, screenwriting, and nonfiction. She recently began her thesis, a nonfiction book that blends memoir and personal essays on Chinese calligraphy.
Keehan White See under ‘Editorial Board Members.’
Ndinda Mwanza See under ‘Assistant Editors.’
Cosima Pellis See under ‘Editorial Board Members.’
Isdaly Reyes See under ‘Editors.’
Chelsee Niebergall See under ‘Editorial Board Members.’
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.
Ilyse Horlings is a postdoctoral researcher in the Thayer School of Engineering where they are studying the evolution of snow and firn (the intermediate material between snow and glacial ice) in Antarctica using a combination of modeling, laboratory experiments, and field work. Aside from research, they are passionate about science outreach and education, and enjoy writing poetry, photography, and exploring nature. Much of their inspiration stems from their adventures and love of their home in the Pacific Northwest.
Madeleine Burns is a first-year PhD student in the EEES program at Dartmouth. She enjoys creative writing as a break from debugging her climate model code and appreciates the lens that writing provides to explore questions of place, change, and memory. She can usually be found exploring the trails of the Upper Valley or curled up with a good book. See under ‘Editorial Board Members.’
Isabelle Campesi is a Poet, Writer and all-around curious person. Raised in Tampa, Florida; she is a creative writing student in the MALS program. When she is not writing, you can find her drawing, painting, crafting, or rewatching her favorite TV shows (probably all at the same time).