"A History of the Future of Narrative" by Robert Coover. Video produced by Martin Arvebro.

A History of the Future of Narrative: Robert Coover from Scott Rettberg on Vimeo.

The majority of the paper presenters have sent in full drafts of their papers. The papers are attached to the abstracts as PDF files. I hope that those of you who are attending the conference will take the opportunity to read the papers that you are most interested in in advance of the conference. We asked for full paper submissions in order to provide presenters with the opportunity to share their ideas in a fuller way that a fifteen to twenty minute presentation will allow, and in order to enrich the discussions that will follow each panel. If you are a presenter and have not yet sent in your paper, please do so as soon as you can and I will add it to the site.

UiB students and faculty are encouraged to attend the Electronic Literature in Europe seminar. Due to limited space in the room we have booked the first day of conference (Thursday) in Dragefjellet, only a handful of people in addition to the registered participants will fit in the room. If you are interested in attending that session, please contact Scott Rettberg (scott dot rettberg at uib dot no). Thursday evening's session at Permanenten is open to UiB students and faculty. Friday's session in Sydneshaugen Skole A and the readings Friday night at Landmark Café are open to the general public. Saturday morning sessions are open only to conference participants, but Robert Coover's keynote address Saturday at 4PM in Sydneshaugen Skole A is open to the public.

I am pleased to announce an addition to the conference program. The program will conclude Saturday, September 13th with a closing keynote address at 4PM by the novelist and a leading figure in the sphere of electronic literature, Robert Coover.

All participants have now confirmed, and the complete program is now available online. If the time slot you have been scheduled for conflicts with your travel plans, please email elit.in.europe@gmail.com as soon as possible so that we can rearrange the program.

I have also set up a forum on the site, beginning with a thread where people can post logistical or travel planning questions. I will also post some information about grant opportunities we will discuss during Saturday's meeting, particularly the HERA: Humanities in the European Research Area Creativity and Innovation Joint Research Project. This seminar is partly funded by a HERA JRP Networking grant, and it is our hope that Saturday's discussion will lead to a HERA JRP proposal.

We ask that conference participants whose papers or works have been accepted for this seminar please register on this site as soon as possible. We will not be able to guarantee a place in the program, at the conference dinner, or wireless internet access to people who have not registered by August 14th.

The abstracts of accepted papers, and descriptions of accepted works, are available on this site (under the "Paper Abstracts" and "Works" tabs). In addition, we will post full papers so that conference participants will be able to read and discuss each other's work in a more detailed way than will be allowed by a short verbal presentation. Please remember to submit your full papers before September 1st.

About 50 scholars, artists, and writers from all over Europe and from North America will be participating in this seminar. We look forward to an exciting and informative gathering.

Call for Papers and Works: Seminar on Electronic Literature in Europe

September 11-13th, 2008 at the University of Bergen in Bergen, Norway.

The Fall 2008 Bergen Seminar on Electronic Literature in Europe will build upon the work of the e-poetry seminar held in Paris in February 2008 at the University Paris 8, the 2007 e-poetry conference in Paris, the 2007 Remediating Literature Conference in Utrecht, and other recent activity in the field of electronic literature in Europe. The goals of this gathering are:

1) To provide an opportunity for European researchers to share and discuss their current research on electronic literature, e-poetry, and digital narrative forms.

2) To provide a forum for European authors of electronic literature to share, demonstrate, read, or perform their work.

3) To discuss and explore the foundation of a European research network focused on electronic literature, funding opportunities for such a network, and network activities.