CANDIDATE STATEMENTS For The 2022 Elections

CANDIDATE FOR THE PRESIDENT:

Carl Eby

Professor of English, Appalachian State University

I would be honored to serve a second term as President of the Hemingway Foundation and Society.  A member of the Society for over thirty years (My lord, where did the time go!), I am a professor of English at Appalachian State University, and I have served on the Society’s board for thirteen years, ten of which I spent as Foundation Treasurer.  I have long served on the JFK Library Hemingway Grant Liaison Committee, on the Founders’ Grant Committee, and as a reader for The Hemingway Review.  In 2006, I served as Program Director for the Society’s conference in Málaga and Ronda, Spain.  My publications include two books and many articles on Hemingway, including several in The Hemingway Review.  My book Reading Hemingway’s The Garden of Eden: Glossary and Commentary will be out in the coming year from Kent State UP.

The Hemingway Society has long felt like an extended family, and I remain deeply committed to our mission: advancing Hemingway studies and Hemingway’s legacy through support for, among other things, our amazing biennial conferences, The Hemingway Review, the Hemingway Letters Project, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Hemingway Newsletter, and grants for travel and research.  It is a pleasure and a privilege to work with so many others committed to this same mission, and I am proud to belong to an organization that has remained vibrant by welcoming and providing material support to voices new to the field.

CANDIDATES FOR THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS:

Gail Sinclair

Retired, Rollins College

My history with the Hemingway Society began in 1994, and for nearly three decades I have had the joy of participating at conferences and events with amazing scholars and friends. My first official role was as co-director with Kirk Curnutt for the 2004 Key West Conference, and again with Steve Paul and Steve Trout in Kansas City in 2008. After being elected to the board, I have served for more than a decade in multiple capacities including vice president, Society treasurer, and membership liaison. The work has often been challenging but always rewarding.

Because of my tenure as a board member, I have a great deal of experience with the inner workings of the Society including its membership needs, finances, conference operations, governance issues, and other important initiatives. With this organizational history, I am always eager to mentor newer board members and rising leaders as they begin to take active roles on the board. 

My Hemingway scholarship includes co-edited collections Key West Hemingway: A Reassessment with Kirk Curnutt, and War + Ink: New Perspectives on Hemingway’s Early Life and Writings with Steve Paul and Steven Trout, as well as essays in Ernest Hemingway in Context, Teaching Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Hemingway’s Women: Female Critics and the Female Voice, and essays and interviews in The Hemingway Review and The Newsletter.

I have greatly appreciated the faith Society members have placed in me, and it would be an honor to continue my work on the board.

Ross K. Tangedal

Associate Professor of English and Director of the Cornerstone Press, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point

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 Michigan Salvage: The Fiction of Bonnie Jo Campbell (Michigan State UP, 2023), Editing the Harlem Renaissance (Clemson UP, 2021), and the forthcoming Good Country: Ernest Hemingway and the American West (University of Nevada P, 2024). 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, MidAmerica, and One True Sentence, and I’ve been interviewed on One True Podcast and participated as a panelist during the “Dangerous Summer” webinar series. I have been a member of the core editorial team of the Hemingway Letters Project since 2020, where I am currently associate volume editor of volume 6 (Cambridge UP, 2023).

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, a JFK Library Hemingway Grant recipient, and a reader 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. I live in central Wisconsin with my wife, CJ, and our three kids: Adeline, Hazel, and Charlie.

Michael Von Cannon

Instructor in English, Florida Gulf Coast University

I am an instructor in English and affiliate faculty member in the Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University. In 2019, I co-created and began producing the show One True Podcast for the Hemingway Society, which is now in its third year with nearly 80 episodes. That show has led to the recent 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. My articles on Hemingway and American literature have appeared in The Hemingway Review, the F. Scott Fitzgerald Review, and Poe Studies. Between 2013-2017, I contributed the annual chapter on Hemingway and Fitzgerald for American Literary Scholarship. Additionally, I have served on the Society’s Media Committee and the Founder’s Grant Committee.

During my time participating on these various committees, producing the podcast for the Society, and serving on the Board, I have sought ways to support emerging scholars and leverage the strengths of digital and new media. As a member of the Media Committee, for instance, I helped the Society navigate to a more online presence (including webinar offerings) during the height of COVID; more recently, with the return to in-person conferencing, I have helped explore how digital platforms can enhance these face-to-face forms of scholarly community. Of the skills the Society presently needs, I look forward to the possibility of continuing with video/audio conferencing, event programming, and grants & awards.

Finally, and for full candidate transparency, you should know that—at this point—my favorite Hemingway novel is For Whom the Bell Tolls; favorite story: “The Battler;” favorite non-fiction: honestly, it’s probably The Dangerous Summer.