In recent times Instagram has become a hub for both minimalistic and full length poetry. It's no longer just aesthetically pleasing pictures but words of affirmation, inspiration, short stories of love and tales of shared pain. Instagram might have self handedly saved poetry in the modern age.
Rupi Kaur is the best case study in how instagram has become a home for poetry and poetic success stories. The 27 year old Canadian published her first collection, milk & honey 6 years ago and it has been translated into 40 languages and has sold 3.5 million copies, stealing the position of best-selling poetry book from The Odyssey. Milk & honey was published in 2014 and only hit the New York Times best-seller list in 2016.
Nayyirah Waheed is another self published success story and she is regarded as the most famous poet on Instagram. Waheed has published two poetry books entitled salt. 2013) and Nejma (2015). She had initial difficulty in publishing salt.and decided to go the self-publishing route even though her work was highly criticized then. Since gaining a loyal following on social media, both salt. and Nejma have become highly praised and studied in schools.
Now Zimbabwean Faith Farai can be added to such success stories although she hasn't reached such a grand scale. The poet and author recently published her first poetry collection titled Mirror, Mirror. In less than 24 hours the book had hit the number one spot on the Amazon Bestseller List of New Poetry Releases. She was sitting pretty above even the awe inspiring milk & honey by Rupi Kaur. Faith Farai was recently invited by Oxford University to speak about Feminism, Blackism, Womanism and as well as her book.
Since she became number one on the bestseller list 24 hours she has had opportunities to collaborate with luxury boutiques and she hit the Vogue Germany Magazine. Mirror, Mirror is available for purchase on Amazon.
