The Electronic Literature Lab’s founder and Director Dene Grigar, was given The Marjorie C. Luesebrink Career Achievement Award by the International arts organization, Electronic Literature Organization (ELO). This award honors “a visionary artist and/or scholar who has brought excellence to the field of electronic literature and has inspired others to help create and build the field” (“ELO Awards”). Previous recipients include Luesebrink, N. Katherine Hayes, John Cayley, Kate Pullinger, and Stephanie Strickland.
Grigar has served on the ELO Board of Directors since 2006, first as its Treasurer, then as Vice President, and finally as its President for two terms (2023-2016, 2016-2019). After stepping down from this leadership role, Grigar continued working on behalf of the organization to archive and preserve works of born-digital literature, art, and games, dedicating expertise from her lab for these purposes. In 2018 she led the development of the ELO Repository, a project that evolved into The NEXT, the virtual museum and library that hosts the files for close to 3000 works and seeded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Working with Richard Snyder, ELL’s Metadata Specialist, she also led the creation of the extended metadata system that makes it possible for people with disabilities and sensory sensitivities to know in advance how best to experience a work in The NEXT. This project was funded by the Society of American Archivists and supported by Triangle SCI. She has also led the reconstruction and restoration of 10 major works of electronic literature, including such hypertext narratives as Stuart Moulthrop’s Victory Garden, Bill Bly’s We Descend, Sarah Smith’s King of Space, and Christy Sheffield Sanford’s Red Mona. The methodology she pioneered with Stuart Moulthrop that resulted in the Pathfinders project (2013-2017) was funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
A compilation video featuring colleagues from the field who honor her for this award can be viewed at https://youtu.be/WsrHMIJlYuU?si=oeXy4x-vUc5cw7Pb.