Features

Kate Pullinger

Kate joins DMU

When someone says "storytelling" to you, what do you immediately think?

An image of a book or spoken bedtime fairytales may spring to mind. Now think more 21st century...

Kate Pullinger has written several "normal" novels but it is her interactive online story 'Inanimate Alice' which has received the most interest from the media and public alike.

E-story

The short stories, written in partnership with Babel (real name Chris Joseph), will eventually follow the life of a girl called Alice from the age of eight into her twenties.

Each episode is made up of music, sounds, written narrative, animations, images and interactive games; all leading to a totally unique style of creative writing.

Kate is thought to be the first author to have been asked to speak at both the Edinburgh Book Festival and the city's games festival EIEF.

She said - "As a writer, the challenge of my work is to make sure the story hooks people in, or they will just click 'exit' instead of moving on to the next page or section - the same as any other of fiction or drama."

Creativity @ DMU

Kate Pullinger

Kate has just become De Montfort University's Reader in Creative Writing and New Media. Her duties will include teaching a Masters degree as well as undertaking her own research.

The award-winning author hopes to influence a new generation of students to widen their literary expectations and creativity through multimedia storytelling.

"I think this kind of work will become an art form equal to literature and film but I think we need lots of good writers and artists with good, compelling stories to tell in ways that exploit the potential of the new technologies."

"I think as future generations become more and more e-literate, this will evolve and I'm really looking forward to working with students at De Montfort University where innovation and creative technology work is already being fostered."