Electronic Literature Panels at SLSA

This year’s conference of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts, set for November 10-13 in Chicago, features numerous panels that focus on “etextuality and computation”. Many of the ELO’s board of directors will be presenting. See the conference program for details on the following panels:

+ Thursday, November 10:

“Narrative, Media and Technology”
“Viral and Distributed Narratives”

+ Friday, November 11:

“There is No Media?
“Narrative and Emergent Knowledge”
“Dirty Code”
“The Error Engine: Writing and Creative Evolutionary Systems”

+ Saturday, November 12

“Cybernetics, Autopoiesis, Literature”
“Digital Cognition”
“Text/Image/Structure: Literary Hypertext 2005”

+ Sunday, November 13:

“Rhetoric and Image in Science and Literature”
“Emergence and Convergence in New Media Narratives”

ELO members will receive a discount of US $40 off the regular registration rate of US $120. Download the registration form here, and add a note on the form indicating that you are a member of the ELO.

Robert Coover Reading at UCLA Hammer Museum

Fiction writer and influential elit critic Robert Coover will read from recent works as part of the UCLA Hammer Museum’s fall “New American Writing” series on Sunday, October 16, at 6 pm. This series of readings of contemporary fiction and poetry is organized and hosted by author Benjamin Weissman. This event is free and open to the public. Visit the Hammer website for directions and parking information.

MACHINE Reading Series Gears Up for 2006

The MACHINE reading series, which takes place at the Kelly Writers House in Philadelphia, on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, has a new Web page. MACHINE is co-sponsored by the Electronic Literature Organization, and the three events in the series so far have featured ELO board members Scott Rettberg, Stephanie Strickland, and Nick Montfort along with several other electronic literature authors: Interactive fiction authors Emily Short, Dan Ravipinto, and Star Foster, and Unknown co-authors William Gillespie and Dirk Stratton. Past events have included Interactive Fiction Walkthroughs and Joint Work, a reading of literary collaborations with digital dimensions.

Two Spring 2006 events are being planned now; information about them will be added to the page and announced on the ELO site as soon as it is available.

E-Poetry 2005

E-Poetry 2005: An International Digital Poetry Festival

London: Wednesday, 28 September – Saturday, 1 October 2005

E-Poetry 2005 is both a conference and festival, dedicated to showcasing the best talent in digital poetry and poetics from around the world. E-Poetry combines a high-level academic conference and workshop (examining growing trends in this young art form) with a festival of the latest and most exciting work from both established and new practitioners.

The festival is scheduled to take place at Birkbeck College, University of London, with performances at the ICA, Tate Modern, and other important London venues. There will be performances by numerous leading digital poets with guest appearances from major literary figures, as well as installations and exhibits throughout the week. The festival organizers are Loss Pequeño Glazier & Piers Hugill, with the assistance of John Cayley.

Thom Swiss Seminar at University of Queensland

ELO President Thom Swiss will be at the University of Queensland’s St. Lucia campus on Tuesday, August 9th, to give a talk on “New Media Literature and Art: A Writer’s Perspective”. Swiss will discuss “the possibilities for literature offered by the electronic convergence of words, images, and sound.” For complete information on this event, visit the University of Queensland’s Centre for Critical and Cultural Studies. This event is free and open to the public.

CFP: Interfaces–English Studies and the Computer

This two-day conference at the University of Newcastle will focus on the debate about best practice methods for enabling students and lecturers to gain interest and skills in using learning technology in the classroom, while creating a “snapshot” of what is currently happening with computers in English Studies.

The organizers invite short (15-minute maximum) presentations on good and bad experiences with learning technology in the classroom. Also sought are individuals to lead short discussions on a specific topic related to using technology to teach English Studies. Innovative proposals for discussion formats that avoid the three-paper panel are welcome. The deadline for submission of abstracts is July 31, 2005. For more information, contact Brett Lucas and Stacy Gillis.

The conference will take place November 2-4, 2005. For more information, visit the University of Newcastle English Subject Centre website.

Generator.x Project: Conference, Exhibition, Blog

The Generator.x project, to be held in Oslo, Norway, September 23-24, 2005, will bring together artists, writers, and designers who are embracing the “new literacy” represented by reading and writing in digital media. The project aims to examine the role of software and “generative strategies” in current digital art and design. Confirmed speakers include Erich Berger, Pablo Miranda Carranza, Gisle Froysland, Hans Christian Gilje, Susanne Jaschko, Golan Levin, Sebastian Oschatz, Casey Reas, Amanda Steggell and Marius Watz. The conference is being hosted by Atelier Nord, and will be accompanied by the opening of the Generator.x exhibition at the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design. For more information, visit the Generator.x website, or email info@generatorx.no .