In late 2022, AI-generated imagery sparked intense debate over the legitimacy of machine-made art. But one crucial element was often overlooked — the creativity of the words behind the work. For Melbourne Writers Festival, we’re turned away from the images and toward the prompts that made them possible.

Each artwork was created by feeding exact passages from literary icons — Mary Shelley, Herman Melville, H.G. Wells, Bram Stoker and George Orwell — into the AI tool Midjourney. The result is a reminder of the power of the written word.