This year, Society members will elect two candidates to serve three-year terms, and we will elect a new president.
Below in alphabetical order, you will find statements for the seven candidates who are running for the two open positions. Please review these statements carefully keeping in mind that the Hemingway Society Board is a working board.
The candidate for President is featured after the candidates for the Board.
Voting will open on Tuesday, November 3rd, and remain open until December 1 at 11:59 pm.
After reviewing the statements, members in good standing can vote by clicking on one of the "Vote" buttons below.
NOTE: You will need to log in the your Society membership account to be able to vote.
The candidates are:
Sarah Driscoll, Debra Moddelmog, Nicholas Reynolds, Ross K. Tangedal, Edward "Mac" Test, Michael Thurston, and Michael Von Cannon (their statements are below).
The candidate for president is Verna Kale.
Board Candidates
Sarah Driscoll
I am currently a scholar and instructor at Phillips Academy-Andover, where I teach a senior elective course on Ernest Hemingway. I also serve as Assistant English Department Chair, a role that aligns well with the skills listed on the Hemingway Society’s Board Nominations Notice, specifically concerning my experience in management. Our English department is formidable, with 35 faculty members and numerous adjuncts, which requires excellent communication standards and effective administrative teamwork. In this role, I have several transferrable skills that would be valuable for the Board. I have years of experience organizing, coordinating, and executing guest writer and speaker events; reading submissions for annual literary prizes and selecting nominees; and communicating effectively via email and in person. I am extremely organized, detail-oriented, and methodical, which would serve the Board well in advance of biennial conferences. Another skill I should mention is my proficiency in Spanish. I am fully fluent, having lived in Latin America for years before returning to the U.S. in 2004. This should be helpful when working with constituents/contacts in both Spain and Cuba; and when organizing, translating, and facilitating conversation.
As for what I bring to the Board more broadly: I have extensive experience in the realm of Hemingway Studies, and I am particularly interested in Hemingway’s life in Cuba. This is manifest in numerous articles and book reviews I have written over the years, as well as longer works. For example, I wrote my Master’s thesis on the relationship between Hemingway and Cuban modernist artist Antonio Gattorno, which involved research at the JFK Library in Boston. I also wrote my dissertation on Hemingway and Cuban postmodern author Guillermo Cabrera Infante. My role as a board member would strengthen the ongoing work of Hemingway studies apropos to Cuba and would nurture new avenues for scholarship.
Debra Moddelmog
As a long-time member of the Hemingway Society, I welcome a formal opportunity to contribute to its continued healthy functioning and sustainability. During my career at The Ohio State University and the University of Nevada, Reno, I served in several administrative positions—chair, associate dean, and dean—that provided me with transferable experience and leadership skills for addressing some of the needs the current Board has identified. For example, I have wide-ranging experience administering grants, fellowships, and awards, which was a primary responsibility as associate dean. Additionally, for 10 years, I served on and then chaired a committee that oversaw several Hemingway Society grant programs. As a faculty member and administrator, I also organized and successfully executed workshops, seminars, and conferences, including two international conferences that drew over 300 participants each. I would gladly help with this part of the Society’s work.
The Society leadership will, of course, direct additional work of the Board, but another area in which I might contribute would be helping to grow and promote our diverse and international membership by further developing Society programs that support scholars and instructors, especially those early in their careers. As one idea, I could help set up virtual workshops about applying for grants, writing for publication, and teaching various Hemingway works and topics. I also have experience in fund-raising and might assist with securing additional resources for the Society’s funds, awards, publications, and podcast.
For over 30 years, I have been an active Hemingway scholar, even into retirement. My books include Reading Desire: In Pursuit of Ernest Hemingway (translated into Japanese), the co-edited Ernest Hemingway in Context, and a new edition of The Sun Also Rises (Broadview 2024). I have published many articles and chapters on Hemingway and serve on the advisory board for the Hemingway letters project. This record has given me a strong understanding of Hemingway’s life and writings. This knowledge base, along with efforts to solicit and listen carefully to ideas and concerns of the Society’s membership, will ground my decision-making for moving the Society forward. I am honored to have been nominated and thank you for considering my candidacy.
Nicholas Reynolds
First, I have been passionate about Hemingway ever since I read The Old Man and the Sea at age 12 or so. My 2017 bestselling book Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy; The Secret Adventures of Ernest Hemingway is an expression of that passion.
I was thrilled by the warm welcome I received from the Hemingway Society, which I joined in 2012. I remember in particular a call from H. R. Stoneback and a note from Scott Donaldson, both of whom reached out to say that they suspected I had gotten a little-known story right.
I have attended every meeting since, getting to know other members of the Society and seeing how it operates. I would now like to give back as a working board member. Member engagement, event planning, and writing contests/awards are some areas where I am ready to pitch in.
I have extensive experience in managing small academic associations. For decades, I have been a member of the Council on America’s Military Past (CAMP, a non-profit dedicated to military history and historic preservation), helping to plan its conferences, editing its academic journal, serving as board member and officeholder, and sponsoring writing contests. I helped CAMP grapple with dwindling membership and financial crises. I used some of the same skills as the first treasurer of the North American Society for Intelligence History, and as a member of tthe Board of Advisors of the Appalachian Mountain Club (outdoors.org). I hope to bring a varied perspective to the board. I have academic credentials, with my PhD in history and experience in the classroom. I love a good footnote as much as anyone. But I have also worked in less academic fields. I served as an infantry officer and director of a field history program in the Marine Corps, and spent years at CIA, ending up as the historian of its museum, where I did everything from researching exhibits to strategic planning.
Ross K. Tangedal
I am Associate Professor of English and Director of the Cornerstone Press at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point, where I specialize in American print & publishing culture, bibliography, textual editing, and authorship studies. I am the author of The Preface: American Authorship in the Twentieth Century (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021; featuring a chapter on Hemingway) and editor of the forthcoming Good Country: Ernest Hemingway and the American West (University of Nevada Press, 2026), where I have also written an essay on “A Man of the World,” one of Hemingway’s last stories. I have published widely on Ernest Hemingway, with essays in The Hemingway Review, Teaching Hemingway and Race, Teaching Hemingway and the Natural World, The Handbook of the American Short Story, The Routledge Companion to Ernest Hemingway (forthcoming), MidAmerica, and One True Sentence, and I’ve been interviewed on One True Podcast twice and participated as a panelist during the “Dangerous Summer” webinar series. I have been a member of the Hemingway Society since 2012. My other books include the edited collections The Routledge Companion to F. Scott Fitzgerald (Routledge 2026), Michigan Salvage: The Fiction of Bonnie Jo Campbell (Michigan State University Press, 2023), and Editing the Harlem Renaissance (Clemson University Press, 2021).
I have been a member of the core editorial team of the Hemingway Letters Project since 2020, where I am now an associate volume editor (my first credit being volume 6, released by Cambridge University Press, 2024). I had the privilege to serve as assistant program coordinator of the 19th Biennial Hemingway Society Conference in Wyoming and Montana (my home state) in July 2022, where I was responsible for program logistics, panel organization, and on-site troubleshooting with site coordinators. I am a two-time recipient of the Lewis-Reynolds-Smith Founders Fellowship (and currently serve on the selection committee), a JFK Library Hemingway Grant recipient, and the bibliographer for The Hemingway Review. I have presented at Hemingway conferences in Petoskey, Oak Park, and Sheridan/Cooke City, as well as at multiple meetings of the American Literature Association.
My experience in event programming, video conferencing, conference planning, financial management, membership communications, and grants/awards will hopefully assist the society as it continues to grow into the future. My favorite Hemingway novel is The Sun Also Rises, and picking a favorite short story is next to impossible: the Nick Adams stories remain close to me, as does “The Snows of Kilimanjaro.” I live in central Wisconsin with my wife, CJ, and our three kids: Adeline, Hazel, and Charlie.
Edward “Mac” Test
I would be delighted to serve on the Board for the Hemingway Society! I have been a member of the Hemingway Society since 2021.
I am a Professor at Boise State University in the Department of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing, where I teach literature, translation, theatre, creative writing, and a Hemingway Seminar for Honors Students. I also direct the Hemingway Center on Boise State’s Campus (founded in 1986) where we hold lectures, readings, and performances. I have brought Hemingway Scholars to campus to give talks, such as Suzanne del Gizzo and Michael Von Cannon. The Hemingway Center is also affiliated with the annual Hemingway Seminar in Ketchum, Idaho, where I deliver talks and lead discussions on Hemingway’s work. This year we were fortunate to have Seán Hemingway give the keynote! In the summer of 2024, I attended the International Hemingway Conference in the Basque country where I delivered a talk on the use of Spanish in For Whom the Bell Tolls, and chaired a panel about Martha Gellhorn. I look forward to this year’s conference in Toronto. I have also served as a reviewer for The Hemingway Review.
I will bring to the Hemingway Society Board fresh insights through my abundance of Board-type experience. I have served on the Idaho Humanities Council Board for seven years. At my university, I worked on the Faculty Senate for four years, eventually becoming Vice President and then Faculty Senate President; I also chaired the English Department for three years; and I have served on and chaired numerous university committees. My background experience dovetails with many of the areas important to the Hemingway Society, such as: membership communications, event programming, conference planning, financial/treasury management, and grants and awards.
I will also bring some unique life experiences to the Hemingway Society Board. For thirteen years I was a fisherman in the Bering Sea, working as a mate and medic aboard Factory Trawlers. When not at sea, I traveled the world, finally settling in Mexico, where I delved into the literary scene and became fluent in Spanish. Later, I got a MA Degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, and then went on to get a PhD in English Literature. I have published many essays, a book of poetry, three books of translation, and two books of academic scholarship. My most recent book is The Lieutenant Nun: Annotated Translation of the Play, Historical Accounts and Documents about Antonio/Catalina de Erauso (Routledge Press, 2025). I am currently working on a book based upon my years of experience on the high seas.
I look forward to working with the Board and Society members! Thank you for considering my nomination.
Michael Thurston
I have taught courses on modern American and British literature at Smith College since 2000. Many of those courses have included the work of Hemingway. I have published essays on Hemingway’s in our time, A Farewell to Arms, and Death in the Afternoon, edited the Norton Critical Edition of The Sun Also Rises, and, most recently, authored The Cambridge Introduction to Ernest Hemingway. For five years (2019-2024), I served as provost and dean of faculty at Smith.
Over the course of my career, I have built up quite a bit of experience in financial management, grant and award administration, and conference and event planning. As provost, I oversaw the budget for all of Smith’s academic programs. I have served on review boards for the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as the Hemingway Society’s committee to distribute Founders’ fellowships and Hinkle travel grants. I have served on the program committee for the Modernist Studies Association’s annual conference and I currently serve as the liaison between the Modern Language Association and the Hemingway Society, in which capacity I coordinate the Hemingway session(s) at the MLA annual meeting. This fall, I organized a symposium at Smith to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of In Our Time. Having returned to the faculty after my five years in administration, I am eager to find ways to be helpful to the communities I care about, and I would be honored to serve on the Board of this society.
Michael Von Cannon
I am an instructor in English at Florida Gulf Coast University. In 2023, I took on the duties of the Hemingway Society Treasurer and also serve on the society’s Media Committee and the Conference Awards Committee. During my time on the Board and as part of these various committees, I have helped manage the society's finances, contributed to conference and other event planning, administered awards, and recently assisted with the overhaul of our website's membership management software.
As well, in 2019 I co-created and began producing the show One True Podcast for the Hemingway Society, which is now in its sixth year with nearly 170 episodes. That show led to the publication of One True Sentence: Writers & Readers on Hemingway’s Art. I am also co-editing The Letters of Ernest Hemingway, 1957-1961, the final volume of the Hemingway Letters Project, with J. Gerald Kennedy and with the assistance of Valerie Hemingway. My articles and book chapters on Hemingway and Fitzgerald have appeared in The Hemingway Review, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, and The Bloomsbury Handbook to F.
Scott Fitzgerald. Between 2013-2017, I contributed the annual chapter on Hemingway and Fitzgerald for American Literary Scholarship.
Of the skills the Hemingway Society presently needs, I look forward to continuing with managing finances, administering awards, and assisting with conference and event planning.
Candidate for President
Verna Kale
I am honored to be nominated for President of the Hemingway Society. I have served since 2018 on the board and taken part in several key transitions (led by Carl Eby as president and Suzanne del Gizzo as chair of the media committee), including the move of the PEN Hemingway Award from PEN America to PEN Faulkner, the consolidation of the Society and Foundation's financial investments into a Vanguard fund, and our expanding media landscape. I have served as Treasurer of the Foundation, chair of the Founders Fellowship committee, and liaison to the American Literature Association. Many of you got to know me as one of the co-directors of the conference in the Basque Country in 2024. I am also Associate Editor of the Hemingway Letters Project, Associate Research Professor of English at Penn State University, and author or editor of several Hemingway-related publications, most recently the Norton Library Edition of The Sun Also Rises.
As president I would continue to do our important work of holding conferences, supporting scholars, and promoting the work of Ernest Hemingway. With my experience as a board member, and particular competencies in media literacy and public humanities, I am ready and willing to help sustain this vibrant author society and see it grow as an international Society that welcomes participation by students, academics, creative writers, and Hemingway fans from around the world.