Call to write and share a bookly

With more than 450 local and international books on the platform, bookly quickly became popular. There have been over 13 million page views from close to a million unique visitors since launch. It has won numerous awards including Most Innovative App at the MTN App of the Year Awards, and the Best Start-up at the annual FutureBook Innovation Awards in London.

bookly will now become more than a platform that inspires reading - one that inspires writing as well. With the notion that every phone is a book and with a phone, anyone can be an author, bookly's new mobile site will invite users to tell their story and write a #bookly.

"By expanding bookly into a writing platform, we will allow children and young adults to create content that is relevant to them - and is written in their own language. That way, bookly will become a platform that inspires writing, in any language, on any mobile device," said Levon Rivers, Native VML's head of inventions. Writing a bookly is easy. It's a bite-sized piece of content that can be anything, including short stories and poems. It can be written by anyone - from famous authors to aspiring ones. Any age, any language and from anywhere. Users are encouraged to share their booklys on social media, not only earning recognition for themselves, but encouraging more kids to read at the same time. Readers can review other people's booklys and share them as well.

The bookly Award

To motivate more children to write, Native VML has introduced The bookly Award, which will recognise and reward the best booklys. The entry deadline for the first bookly Award is 21 March.

Prominent South African authors will also be adding to the content on bookly and workshops have been set up in Joburg and Cape Town to teach kids about the initiative and inspire them to write more.

bookly can be found at the following: