Award-winning author Kate Pullinger started work as Reader in Creative Writing and New Media at De Montfort University Leicester recently after wowing judges in both the literary and computing world with her ground-breaking multimedia novel.

Kate, who writes the interactive online story Inanimate Alice with writer Chris Joseph (also known as Babel), won the Premio per l'arte digitale 2005*. 

The world premiere of Episode 3 of Inanimate Alice was shown at the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival (EIEF) last month, attracting both arts and media attention to this ground-breaking interactive reading experience.

Kate, who 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, hopes to influence a new generation of students to widen their literary expectations and creativity.

"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," said Kate who will teach on DMU's Masters degree in Creative Writing and New Media as well as undertaking her own research.

"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," she added.

Writing Inanimate Alice has already brought Kate, and her collaborator Chris Joseph (recently appointed Digital-Writer-In-Residence in DMU's Institute Of Creative Technology) further recognition; it was a finalist in the 2006 Digital Media Awards, Dublin, Ireland, and is currently shortlisted for two other international prizes. It has also been chosen for The Electronic Literature Collection Volume 1 (CD-ROM and web), by The Electronic Literature Organization, UCLA, Los Angeles, an anthology of electronic literature that aims to become the universal text book of the digital realm.

"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," said Kate. "It's all about good stories, well-told, whatever the medium."