Riveted in the Word is an interior narrative inspired by the true story of a writer/historian’s hard-fought battle to regain language after a devastating stroke. Author/designer Warren Lehrer and electronic literature developer Artemio Morales developed the multimodal book app as a way of placing the reader inside the mind of the protagonist as she recalls her journey with Broca’s aphasia. Fusing writing, kinetic typography, and an original soundtrack by Andrew Griffith, the custom interface toggles between columns of text that readers navigate at their own pace, and animated sections that evoke gaps between perceptions (thoughts, memories, desires) and the words needed to communicate.
Most of the inner monologue takes place while the fictionalized professor is lying in bed thinking about her 20+ year rehabilitation, hopeful for the day ahead, which turns out to be a breakthrough day for her. The interface is often bifurcated down the middle, in a way that mirrors the two hemispheres of the brain, which get affected differently by a stroke. The reader witnesses Norah’s determined spirit and seemingly fragmented-but-intelligible thoughts as they shift from present to past, and toward her upcoming public lecture, the first she’s given since the stroke.
Recognition includes: Print Magazine’s Book Club featured Book of the Month; endorsed by The National Aphasia Association, featured on their Recommended Reading list; Design Incubation Scholarship/Creative Work Award.