InstaNovels 2021 Revival

Amidst the chaos of 2020, the Department of Library Services’ Marketing Office launched their InstaNovels initiative through the hard work of Kelly Liebenberg, a temporary staff member.  

InstaNovels are whole novels (or poetry and short stories) which are either original works or are out of copyright. Some of the InstaNovels posted in 2020 feature original works written by UP staff and students, creating valuable opportunities for emerging writers. Each InstaNovel is published via the UP Library Instagram (@uplibrary) story reel, where they can be accessed at any time by anyone who would like to do some reading. In 2021, the Marketing Office decided to revive the UP Library InstaNovels initiative.

The first InstaNovels post for the year will be a digitisation of “Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street” (1923), a short story by Virginia Woolf. The short story would later become Woolf’s celebrated full-length novel Mrs Dalloway (1925). Woolf’s short story was chosen because the short story is in the public domain and because the story is often overlooked in favour of the full-length novel, which entered the public domain this year. Reading the story allows one to get a feel for the genesis of Clarissa Dalloway; it allows us to see where she came from. The story also touches on mental health and the mental effects that war has on the populace of a country, making it an interesting read. The process of creating the InstaNovel involved many emails and adjustments to the text, which have all resulted in a delightful reading experience! The layout of the text takes place on Canva, where the sourced text is digitised to create an easy-to-read version of the chosen works. Using Canva allows one to assemble an InstaNovel with ease and efficiency as the platform provides one with many options to create and edit texts ready for social media. InstaNovels are a fantastic way for libraries to facilitate reading opportunities for readers online!

The UP Library InstaNovels initiative is co-ordinated by Elsabé Olivier and her team of student interns. The team determines which out-of-copyright works could be made into InstaNovels, and from there each team member has their role to play in the process. The project is overseen by Jordan Stier, who manages the process from initial design through to posting on the Instagram reel. Kegan Gaspar is responsible for the sourcing of potential stories and creating the text of each published story. Graphic designer, Elaine Marais, lovingly crafts unique book covers and illustrations which are used to compliment the text. Together, the team’s efforts result in bite-sized reading opportunities for social media users who might not have encountered these texts elsewhere. 

Keep an eye out for “Mrs Dalloway in Bond Street”, which will be featured on the UP Library’s Instagram page later this month as the inaugural post for the year. Many more InstaNovels are to follow in 2021 and beyond! 

If you would like to read more about the InstaNovels initiative and what was done in 2020, you can access the article through the following link: https://www.up.ac.za/department-of-library-services/news/post_2948548-up-library-instanovel-project