Emily Craven, Self-Directed Writer in Residence, January - February 2017

Emily Craven is an author, speaker, innovator and the publisher/CEO of the Story City GPS app, which allows participants to take part in a story set in the location they are standing. Emily is the winner of the Brisbane City Council inaugural $25,000 Innovation Award for her Story City project, which creates real life choose-your-own-adventure stories around cities, and winner of the 2016 QLD Literary Award’s Young Writer and Publisher of the Year. Emily has spoken to teenagers, teachers, journalists and writers across Australia (keynotes, workshops and masterclasses) on writing, editing, ebooks, and digital/multi-media storytelling, and was the Digital Writer in Residence at Brisbane State High School in 2014-2015.She writes YA fiction, with her latest series, The Grand Adventures of Madeline Cain, written as though you are reading the main character’s Facebook page. She was previously the Digital Producer for if:book Australia (The Institute for the Future of the Book) and QLD Writers Centre and has been featured in Money Magazine, Channel 7’s The Great South East and in various newspaper publications for her writing projects.She will be staying at Caetani from January to February to work on her Story City app project, and will be giving workshops as well (dates and times TBD--check back on our website for updates!)The Intended Project at CaetaniThe logistics of travelling, recording and finding local partners has been much more time consuming that I first anticipated. As a result, I haven’t been able to carve out a solid chunk of time to take the raw materials and produce interactive stories and tours for the app. That is the aim of this residency, to take the 8 months of material my partner and I have collected and turn it into entertaining and interactive adventures for locals and travellers in cities across South America. My aim is to have each story address a different subject matter and genre to showcase the types of stories/experiences writers, artists, musicians, filmmakers, theatre makers, even dancers, could make with this app in their own towns.The initial stories and material I intend to tackle in the residency involve the audio that we have recorded, for this takes the longest to distil into a useable and entertaining story. This material will produce stories for:

• Ouro Preto – Brazil: The story will weave the local myths, legends and history with the life and personality of the eccentric hostel owner who worked with us.
• Buenos Aires – Argentina: A straight tour with an architecture and political history focus produced in conjunction with worldwide walking tour company, Context Travel.
• Buenos Aires – Argentina: A fictional ghost story based off the weird and fantastical stories told by the locals in the gothic Recoletta Cemetery.
• La Paz – Bolivia: A celebrations and rituals focused tour, showcasing video footage of celebrations held only once a year and inaccessible to the majority of visitors who arrive outside these dates.
• Tiwanaku – Bolivia: A myths and legends puzzle trail through the ruins, based on the murky knowledge of the ancient Tiwanaku civilisation.

Follow the Story City project at the official website here!You can find more of Emily's work on GoodReads.