Rather than provide free advertising by wearing clothing from corporations that can easily afford to buy marketing campaigns, why not encourage literacy by wearing what you read?

The website Literary Rags produces literary themed t-shirts from the works of dramatists, poets, novelists, and philosophers. Each shirt has a portrait of the artist (though not necessarily as a young man) on the front and a quotation printed on the back. Arthur Miller, Anton Chekhov, Emily Dickinson, Matsuo Basho, William S. Burroughs, Toni Morrison, David Hume, and Søren Kierkegaard are only a few of the writers who get the T-shirt treatment. The intro page for the site also includes audio readings of Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Langston Hughes, and Dylan Thomas.

An Edmonton poetry house, Rubicon Press, is also using clothing to support their poets. To learn how, check out Q&Q’s Special Report on the Prairies in our March issue – in stores now.