British Arts and Humanities Research Council has awarded a major grant (£440,000 over 2 years) to ‘Poetry Beyond Text,’ which will include investigations into “digital poetry, books of poetry and photography, artists’ books and concrete and pattern poetry.”

This grant marks another sign of international interest and national arts investment in the exploration of electronic literature.

Below is news from their announcement:

Researchers at the Universities of Dundee and Kent have just been awarded a major grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, to study poetry ‘beyond text’.

The project, entitled Poetry Beyond Text: Vision, Text and Cognition involves researchers in English, Comparative Literature, Psychology and Fine Art in a 2-year partnership between the two universities. The team will be led by Dr Andrew Michael Roberts of the Dundee School of Humanities English Programme.
Read more UK Major Grant Award for e-lit: ‘Poetry Beyond Text’

ELO announces 2 new resources of electronic literature for 2009: The Electronic Literature Collection, vol. 2, and the new Electronic Literature Directory.

1) The Electronic Literature Directory version 2.0 will feature an easy-to-use interface for accessing a robust collection of electronic literature, edited and annotated. As more faculty begin adding electronic literature to their courses, the directory will prove an invaluable resource for accessing new and classic electronic literature. These works have been vetted and documented by the ELO Working Group, coordinated by Lori Emerson. The directory will feature a new design, offering visitors more ways to find the kinds of e-lit they desire while also discovering works they could not have imagined.

Under the Direction of ELO president Joseph Tabbi, the ELD 2.0 was developed from 2006-09 by Maleeka Ingram, Stuart Moulthrop, Scott Rettberg, Stephanie Strickland, and ELO Technical Director Ewan Branda. The previous version of the Directory was developed by Robert Kendall and Nick Traenkner.

2) Following up on the widely distributed volume 1, ELO presents Electronic Literature Collection, volume 2. Like vol. 1, This second biannual collection will be available as a stand-alone disc (DVD) and an online collection. The editorial collective for the second volume includes Laura Borràs Castanyer, Talan Memmott, Rita Raley and Brian Kim Stefans.

These two resources with their wide arrays of works will offer yet more answers to the question what is electronic literature? More importantly, they provide reliable, edited collections of materials and links that ensure that scholars will not end their search for new elit on a 404 error. Stay tuned to the RSS feed for ELO for more updates soon.