KEYSTROKE
NEW WRITING FOR NEW MEDIA

Public talks and workshop
17 - 19 September 1999

Keystroke is an opportunity for writers using new media to build their skills and their expertise. A chance to explore how a new wave of writers are working online and with other forms of digital media; for writers using this medium, this is an opportunity to share and exchange information and develop work in a critical context.

Keystroke is not just a one-off event, it is a six month development programme: part-training, part-tutorial and part-workshop. It aims to build a group of people who want to develop and work on new media literature projects in the coming years.

Therefore, Keystroke is intended for writers who are familiar with the net and other forms of digital media and who want to extend their creative expertise. It is expected that participants will have projects or areas of interest that they will want to develop, and part of the purpose of the six month Keystroke programme is to create a critical environment where writers can experiment and pursue their ideas with the support of the tutors and other group participants..

THE TUTORS

Bernard Cohen

Currently working with trAce as a UK writer in residence, Bernard Cohen is the author of three novels: Tourism, The Blindman's Hat (which won the 1996 Australian/Vogel Literary Award) and Snowdome. He has three times been named by the Sydney Morning Herald as one of the Best Young Australian Novelists, has received several Australia Council fellowships and won a number of short story competitions. He was born in 1963 and now lives in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, Australia.

Christy Sheffield Sanford

Christy Sheffield Sanford recently won The Well's prize for the Best Hyperlinked Work on the Web. Her work has been praised by George Myers Jr.in the Columbus Dispatch, George Landow in Hypertext 2.0 and N. Katherine Hayles in ArtForum. Her online work has been published by Light and Dust, Enterzone, The Little Magazine, Salt Hill and many other ezines and project sites. She has won a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and is the author of seven books including The H's: The Spasm of a Requiem, The Italian Smoking Piece and Only the Nude Can Redeem the Landscape.
Christy Sheffield Sanford is currently the trAce Virtual Writer-in-Residence. She is currently developing an online poetry project commissioned by NOW99, trAce and DA2 with Poetry Can

Sue Thomas

Sue Thomas is the Director of trAce and has written widely about technology. She has published two novels, Correspondence and Water, and her fifth book, recently completed, is set in a virtual community. http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/suethomas/

Helen Whitehead

Helen Whitehead is a freelance writer and editor. She has worked with online media since 1985, with interests which include scientific databases, hypertext fiction and education. Qualified to teach adults, she recently
completed an MA in Writing. She is Development Worker for trAce and Editor of Kids on the Net.

Keystroke and the DA2 INPUT digital training programme is developed by DA2 in partnership with: SkillnetSW, University of the West of England, University of Plymouth and SMART South West with financial assistance from the European Social Fund, the Arts Council of England and the National Lottery through the Arts Council of England. Keystroke is generously supported by trAce international online writing community - http://trace.ntu.ac.uk