The Winner of the Turn on Literature Prize is…

The winner is:

Abra by Amaranth Borsuk, Kate Durbin, and Ian Hatcher

Some words form the jury about our choice:

Abra is a magical poetry instrument/spellbook for iOS, where readers encounter a series of poems exploring themes of mutation and excess. The poems themselves are constantly in motion, mutating gradually from one to the next. Readers can take part in this process, touching words and watching them shift and undulate, casting spells to set the text in motion, and grafting new words into the text.
Abra merges physical and digital media, integrating a hand-made artists’ book with an iPad app that can be read separately or together, with the iPad inserted into the back of the book. The artist’s book contains a number of physical features that emulate the mutation and interactivity of the app, including blind-printed text, heat-sensitive ink, and laser-cut openings that invite the reader to see page and screen as a continuous touchscreen interface.

 

ABRA is beautiful and exiting with a lot of consideration and design of both the physical book and the app.   It starts with good writing, and it is very smart about the connection between interactivity and poetic constraint. It is multilayered and playful, and a excellent representation of contemporary electronic literature. The combination of physical book and app is appealing and will make good sense in a library exhibition.

 

The Shortlist for The Turn on Literature Prize and Honorable Mentions

The shortlist

How to rob a bank by Alan Bigelow

All the Delicate Duplicates by Mez Breeze and Andy Campbell

Bafflement Fires by Jason Nelson

Gathering Cloud by J.R. Carpenter

Abra by Amaranth Borsuk, Kate Durbin, and Ian Hatcher

News Wheel by Jody Zellen

Novelling by Will Luers, Hazel Smith and Roger Dean

 
Honorable mentions
DO IT by Serge Bouchardon

The Poetry Map by Matt Bryden (concept and poems) with Jon Munson II (programmer)

The Chessbard by Aaron Tucker and Jody Miller

Detectiveland by Robin Johnson

Inanimate Alice: Perpetual Nomads (Part 1) – Sand + Smudges by Mez Breeze , Ian Harper, Andy Campbell, Kate Pullinger, Chris Joseph, Walter Brecely, Esteban Camacho Steffensen, Ron Poitras, John Patten

These Subconscious Drives by Jason Nelson

Collocations by Abraham Avnisan

Jellybone by Kate Pullinger

Autopia by Nick Montfort

 

The Winner of the Turn on Literature prize will be announced shortly.