Professors’ Gift Names WSU Vancouver Reading Room For Born-digital Literature Pioneer (Photo) -07/16/25

VANCOUVER, Wash. – A gift from Washington State University Vancouver professors has led to the naming of a key space in the Electronic Literature Lab in honor of pioneering digital artist Marjorie C. Luesebrink.

 

Dene Grigar, professor and lead for the Digital Technology and Culture department, and John Barber, professor of Digital Technology and Culture, have together pledged $183,750 to name the Reading Room, used for the preservation, curation and documentation of born-digital literature, The Marjorie C. Luesebrink Reading Room for a term of five years.

 

The Electronic Literature Lab, hosted on the WSU Vancouver campus, is directed by Grigar and specializes in preserving, conserving and studying born-digital literature, art and games. The gift supports lab staffing, including a team member who worked closely with Luesebrink on several projects. These include the design of a 2022 retrospective of her work, “Horizon Insights,” curated by Grigar and exhibited at The NEXT, the virtual museum, library and preservation space founded by Grigar.

 

Luesebrink, who published under the pen name M.D. Coverley, created 27 born-digital works of fiction and poetry over three decades, including two groundbreaking interactive novels: “Califia” (Eastgate Systems, 2000) and “Egypt: The Book of Going Forth by Day” (2006). A mentor and close friend to Grigar, Luesebrink served as president of the Electronic Literature Organization and was deeply engaged with ELL throughout its history until her death in October 2023. Grigar now serves as Luesebrink’s archivist and oversees her collected works and papers.

 

The lab houses Grigar’s personal collection of 84 legacy computers dating back to the late 1970s and has been featured by international media, including BBC News and Stories.

 

The lab consists of three spaces: the newly named Luesebrink Reading Room, the Archive Room, which holds more than 110 boxes of archival material related to born-digital works, and the Studio, where the lab hosts and streams artist talks, interviews and performances. In 2020, ELL hosted Luesebrink for a live performance of “Califia.”

 

Luesebrink’s legacy continues through The Marjorie C. Luesebrink Collection, accessible at The NEXT, which preserves her contributions to born-digital literature for future generations. A special reading of Luesebrink’s “Egypt: The Book of Going Forth by Day” will be recorded by Grigar and award-winning poet Stephanie Strickland and available in the collection later this summer.

 

About WSU Vancouver

As one of six campuses of the WSU system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations. 

 

WSU Vancouver is located on the homelands of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Peoples of the Lower Columbia Valley. We acknowledge their presence here. WSU Vancouver expresses its respect towards these original and current caretakers of the region. We pledge that these relationships will be built on mutual trust and respect.

 

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Re-Imagined Radio Pays Tribute To Bogart And Bacall In Two-part Series (Photo) -07/08/25

VANCOUVER, Wash. – The first time they performed together, in the 1943 motion picture “To Have and Have Not,” Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall sizzled. Their chemistry continued onscreen and off. Re-Imagined Radio pays tribute to the two Hollywood legends in a two-part series running in July and August.

 

For the first episode, in July, Re-Imagined Radio samples from the Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of “To Have and Have Not,” which was their first collaborative radio performance. Its success set the stage for their action-adventure radio series “Bold Venture,” which is the focus of Re-Imagined Radio’s August episode.

 

“Part I: To Have and Have Not” premieres at 1 p.m. July 21, and “Part II: Bold Venture,” premieres at 1 p.m. Aug. 18. The premiere episodes are broadcast over KXRW-FM (99.9), Vancouver, and KXRY-FM (91.1 and 107.1), Portland. Subsequent broadcasts and streams will be provided by local, regional and international broadcast partners.

 

Humphrey Bogart was already a Hollywood icon when “To Have and Have Not” was filmed. Bacall, 25 years his junior, was a young model starring in her first motion picture, and her sultry performance won her instant acclaim. Bogart and Bacall starred together in three more films as well as on radio and television. “The on-screen romantic sparks between Bogart and Bacall led to an off-screen affair, and marriage in 1945 that lasted until Bogart's death in 1957,” said John Barber, producer and host of Re-Imagined Radio, and faculty member in Washington State University Vancouver’s Digital Technology and Culture program.

 

“To Have and Have Not” originated in two short stories by Ernest Hemingway. It is set in 1940 Martinique, where Bogart and Bacall become involved in efforts to help the French resistance. Their radio series, “Bold Venture,” is set in Havana. Bogart plays the owner of a hotel that attracts treasure hunters and revolutionaries, and Bacall portrays a femme fatale under his guardianship.

 

Re-Imagined Radio premieres episodes on the third Monday of the month on community radio stations KXRW-FM and KXRY-FM. Each episode is streamed globally and is then available as a podcast and on YouTube. Previous episodes are also released on YouTube each month. Information and listening opportunities are available at reimaginedradio.fm, where all episodes are archived.

 

The website also features “Re-Imagined Radio EXTRA,” additional content between regular monthly episodes, presenting sound-based storytelling from different places and in different genres.

 

Community Partners

Re-Imagined Radio draws on community voice actors, Foley artists, musicians, sound artists and engineers. Partners include KXRW-FM, KXRY-FM, the Electronic Literature Lab at WSU Vancouver, Marc Rose of Fuse Audio Design, Rylan Eisenhauer and Holly Slocum Design, with Evan Leyden.

 

About Re-Imagined Radio

Barber created the program in 2013 to explore sound-based storytelling. “We select, produce and perform classic and contemporary stories across a spectrum of genres, from dramas to comedies, from oral to aural histories, from documentaries to fictions, from soundscapes to sonic journeys, from radio to sound art, using a variety of media, including performances, radio broadcasts, streaming, podcasts and social media, especially YouTube,” Barber said. 

 

About WSU Vancouver

As one of six campuses of the WSU system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations. 

 

WSU Vancouver is located on the homelands of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Peoples of the Lower Columbia Valley. We acknowledge their presence here. WSU Vancouver expresses its respect towards these original and current caretakers of the region. We pledge that these relationships will be built on mutual trust and respect.

 

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