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Abstract

The number and range of writing communities, schools, courses etc. have been on the rise in Denmark in recent years. In both various local and online communities many writers, especially young people, engage with literature detached from or only loosely affiliated with the traditional, established literary institutions and domains. The contemporary publishing landscape’s traditional as well as virtual, online publics and the literary environments on social media compose important contexts that most authors’ practices relate to today. Based on a media ethnographic approach, this article examines the Danish author Sofie Riis Endahl’s use of Instagram in her author practice thus shedding light on the values and understandings of the literary culture that she is engaged in. The analyses point to Endahl’s dual attachment to online social reading and writing communities as well as the established players of the book market and literary institutions. Endahl takes part in a literary culture that is supported by social capital and where a distinctive author ethos is prevalent; it is an ethos that ascribes value to openness, fallibility, persistence and hard work. At the same time this culture relates to and navigates aspirational in relation to an established literary culture in the way that it celebrates cultural capital in the form of reviews in national newspapers, the state’s art foundation, the big publishers and literary awards.