CrossTalk is an interactive keyboard designed to allow two or more people to play with language and communication in a social setting. It was designed as part of the emergent Literary Salon project, in which cafe tables function both as traditional tables and as ways to communicate with other people in the same physical space, enhancing and enabling face-to-face social interactions, rather than detracting from them. A primary goal of this project is to encourage people to play with language; another goal is to create a feeling of community within the cafe.