The New River: A Journal of Digital Writing and Art was founded by author Ed Falco in 1996 and is among the first and longest-running literary journals in the United States dedicated to electronic literature and art. Serving initially as a home for experiments both in hypertext and hypermedia art, the scope of the journal’s archives has grown to encompass video and performance art, sound art, augmented reality, playable media, and programmable sculptures, among others. The New River has remained uniquely committed to its long-standing interest in foregrounding literary work that “[calls] into question everything about traditional art, including the role and position of the author” (New River Journal), becoming a vital archive of digital and computational innovations in an expanding field that, like William Blake’s illuminated manuscripts, resists generic and medium-specific distinctions, now under the leadership of Amanda Hodes and Evan Lavender-Smith. — Madison McCartha
Amanda Hodes reached out to Dene Grigar about The NEXT archiving The New River Journal in December 2021. 158 works were transferred, and many outmodes were preserved by the Electronic Literature Lab.
