This proposed article explores the influence of the digital space and celebrity status in the accumulation and circulation of capital within the wider contemporary African literary scene. It is driven by the idea of capital (cultural, symbolic and economic) to look at how contemporary African literature finds different ways of circulating in the literary market. I pay special attention to the process of literary consecration and value acquired through Chimamanda Adichie’s digital/social media presence in projects such as blog entries, contribution to fashion magazines, pop music culture and even in film and animation and how this has contributed to the creation of a literary celebrity, as well as how this celebrity capital (Driessens 2013) has contributed to increased visibility for contemporary African literature promoted through the cyberspace. The South African-based literary platform Long Story Short, on the other hand, works at bringing local writers, and literature, to a wider visibility by relying on the cultural and symbolic capital of celebrity figures from outside of the literary field. Banking on the culture of orality, Long Story Short relies mainly on celebrity figures from the film and television industries reading literary pieces and excerpts at community libraries. The readings are then packaged into literary podcasts for mobile and online platforms. This proposed article therefore extends on Bourdieu’s (1992) and Couldry’s (2003) idea of meta-capital to explore the concept of celebrity status and African literature and how this has contributed to creating a canon.