“Read, Imagine, Play”: memory of a kids e-lit exhibition

From 13 to 15 July 2023, the "Kids e-Lit Exhibition: Read, Imagine, Play" was held at the Exploratório - Centro Ciência Viva in Coimbra (Exploratorium). The initiative was part of the official programme of the Electronic Literature Organization Conference 2023, whose theme was "Overcoming Divides: Electronic Literature and Social Change". Curated by Ana Maria Machado, Ana Albuquerque e Aguilar and Jaqueline Conte, respectively professor and researchers from the PhD Programme in Materialities of Literature at the University of Coimbra, the exhibition featured ten digital literary works for multimodal and interactive reading. As rarely before in the history of ELO conferences and integrated exhibitions, the target audience was not primarily made up of conference participants. The focus was on external audiences, especially children and young people, and reading mediators. The aim of this article is to record the memory of this exhibition and the works presented in it, as well as to present the difficulties and challenges of building a relevant selection of digital productions, while seeking to avoid technical issues and ensure a good reading experience.