Romance Readers’ Literary Tattoos

I love literary tattoos and can spend a LOT of time looking at the (now defunct) Contrariwise gallery of tattoos, the collections on Pinterest or Tumblr, or TattooLit. Too much time, probably.

Recently, though, Elyse got a truly gorgeous literary tattoo, and we shared it on Twitter and Instagram:

an open book with pages lifted, surrounded by splotches of pastel watercolor

 

Isn’t that beautiful? When we asked if any of you had literary tattoos, the answers were equally gorgeous.

Teri has a beautiful arm tattoo:

a black and white forearm tattoo of a series of books turning into books and flying away

 

Liz’s husband designed her tattoo, which represents the power of books. Liz said she gets asked about it sometimes, that people think it looks like she advocates book burning, but I think it’s pretty cool:

A small tattoo of a book open with flames coming from the spine

 

Bailey has twoRaw Shark Texts and a phrase in white ink from The Library at Night in Latin, “books have their own fates:”

a white ink text tattoo running up her forearm

Mandy got herself a beautiful tattoo to celebrate her first book deal:

black script that reads Once Upon a Time

And so did Brighton!

A typewriter with word and birds flying off the paper that reads The words of my heart bleed onto the page and give my soul the wings to fly

Author Alyssa Day recently got this tattoo, designed by her daughter: “I’ve been wanting a tattoo that incorporated the symbols from my books for a while, but something always came up and I put it off. But when I heard about the semicolon campaign to raise awareness about mental health and fighting suicide, I knew it was personal to me. I’ve been open about my own battle with depression, in the hopes that I can encourage others to seek help.

“And my daughter, an artist, designed a beautiful fairy around the semicolon for me, because not only should our stories (and lives!) go on, but we should have hope that they can be beautiful. Definitely the perfect first tattoo for me!”

a fairy in black with a semicolon for a head and body with purple and blue wings and a shirt made of black teardrops

Karen has two breathtaking literary tattoos, which were inked by Jessica McDermott at Illuminati Tattoo in Santa Cruz. The first is a modified quote from Rumi:

a colorful stack of books that has words on the spines that read You are the lgiht of my heart the comfort of my soul but you are such troublemakers

And the second is from Dan Santat’s book The Adventures of Beekle: The Unimaginary Friend

flowers and honeycomb with the words And the world began to feel a little less strange

Alyssa has a tattoo of an illustration from Shel Silverstein’s Where the Sidewalk Ends:

Two line drawn figures hugging from Shel Silverstein's Hug o War poem

Amanda has a tattoo inspired by her favorite book, Beauty:

a yellow bird perched on a stack of books with roses and the word Beauty

Author, Tonya Burrows, has gorgeous pair of writing themed tattoos from Angelika Graca at Black Amethyst Tattoo Gallery in Saint Petersburg, FL:

An ink well and scroll tattoo on a woman's ankle and calf A typewriter tattoo on a woman's back with the quote "These words I write keep me from going insane."

Jeffe Kennedy has a feathered quill on her shoulder:

Tattoo of a feathered quill on a woman's shoulder blade

Reader Claire submitted this awesome pairing of a teacup and books:

Back tattoo of a teacup on top of a stack of books

Reader Azure has a cute inkwell tattoo on her ankle:

A heart-shaped inkwell tattoo on a woman's ankle

Author, Jennifer Estep, submitted this tattoo from a reader! It’s Gin Blanco’s spider rune from her Elemental Assassin series:

Spider rune tattoo from Jennifer Estep's Elemental Assassin's series. Placed behind a woman's ear.

Wow! Thank you to everyone who shared their art and gave permission for me to post it here.

I’ve been trying to think of a tattoo that incorporates romance novels, but haven’t found the right combination of images and words, so I love to see how other people have been inspired to add words and images to their own bodies.

What about you? Do you have a literary tattoo that you love? Or a tattoo inspired by a romance? We’d love to hear about it – or see it! If you can’t post an image, feel free to email one to me.

Comments are Closed

  1. Amanda says:

    You should check out Jacqueline Carey’s website. She has pages of tattoos that people have gotten that were inspired by the Kushiels Dart series, especially Phedras Marque.

  2. Kim says:

    Funny you should mention that, Amanda 🙂
    I’m getting a script tattoo with ‘Love as Thou Wilt’ in a couple of months. So there’s obviously no picture yet. I’m so looking forward to having a permanent testament to my favourite books on my body.

  3. Azure says:

    My first tattoo was more inspired by my love of writing than my love of reading. I don’t know how to post a pic here, but on my ankle is an inkwell in the shape of a heart with a feather quill sticking out of it.

  4. Sarah says:

    The paint splattered book tattoo is gorgeous. Makes me wish I was brave enough to get one 🙂

  5. SB Sarah says:

    @Azure – if you’d like, you can email me a picture. SarahATsmartbitchestrashybooksDOTcom

  6. Amanda says:

    I have long been planning to get “Trust Thyself” from Emerson’s “On Self Reliance” tattooed on my rib cage. It’s not fiction, but it’s an essay I return to over and over when I need to reenergize my life.

  7. Cerian Halford says:

    I love literary tattoos! I’ve been trying to decide what to get next, but both of mine are book inspired. I’ve got a birdcage with birds flying out that was more loosely inspired and then I’ve got a quote from Devil In Winter by Lisa Kleypas on my back 🙂

  8. Yaara says:

    I recently got my second tattoo, but already thinking about the third 🙂 something literary is definitely part of the plan! Probably something Harry Potter related, as I met a wonderful group of friends years ago via fandom, who’ve been a big oart of my life since.

  9. Erin Burns says:

    No tattoos for me yet. Every time I think I am there, I draw back. But these are lovely.

  10. I have one that’s the feather from the cover of THE MARK OF THE TALA, that I got to celebrate the RT Seal of Excellence for that book. A big milestone for me!:-)

    http://www.jeffekennedy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/feather-tattoo.jpg

  11. Michelle says:

    I got the first line of an Emily Dickinson poem on my forearm last week!

  12. Karena says:

    Hi! My tattoos are the Beekle and Rumi ones. There’s actually a typo on my name. There’s an “a” on the end of my name. 🙂 Thanks!

  13. Laurie P says:

    You should see mine.

  14. Dot says:

    Cerian Halford,

    If you don’t mind my asking, what is the Kleypas quote? I love that book!

  15. garlicknitter says:

    Not romantic literature related, but highly romantic in concept: Wil Wheaton has a tattoo going down the inside of his left forearm that is essentially an EKG reading of his wife’s heartbeat. So when he’s feeling down, he can press his arm to his chest and feel his wife’s heartbeat against his.

    I have no ink myself. I think I just haven’t encountered the right image or quote yet. (I’m only 50, so plenty of time.)

  16. I love these awesome tats. I wish I weren’t chicken about getting one, but I am. If I were brave enough I would get a witch or magic type of tattoo.

  17. Jessica says:

    I got this one when I started working as a public librarian. The second one down was the first book my junior high librarian suggested to me in seventh grade and it was the game-changer for me.

    https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xfa1/v/t1.0-9/14494_10153289583640078_519441893_n.jpg?oh=c8333b9250a9e7461be62a001ca9e8fe&oe=561C1D4E

  18. SB Sarah says:

    Oh my gosh, so many beautiful tattoos. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH.

  19. Heather S says:

    @Jessica: WEETZIE BAT!!!! I love that series! I always feel like the world should have glitter around the edges when I finish reading one of those stories.

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