Africa’s first mobile novel or m-novel, Kontax, was launched yesterday by the Shuttleworth Foundation.

M-novels, or novels that are distributed via mobile phones, are all the rage in markets like Japan. “Of last year’s [2007] 10 best-selling novels, five were originally cellphone novels,” reported The New York Times, in reference to the Japanese market, in January last year.

The initiative was launched under the the m4Lit project (mobile phones for literacy) which seeks to leverage the high penetration of cellphones in South Africa to develop the literacy skills of our youth. Kontax, written by Sam Wilson, reflects this focus on the youth with the story following the exploits of a group of teenage graffiti artists.

The story will be told in 21 chapters, spread over 21 days and will be accessible via WAP-enabled phones. Kontax is available to read in English and isiXhosa. Read the novel at www.kontax.mobi.

Image: Shuttleworth Foundation, Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 2.5 South Africa.