The who, what and why 

Well, it's the age-old story: Boy meets Girl, Boy loses Girl, Boy is Recalled to Life by Love...of Literature!

Joking aside, Quite Literary may never have happened were it not for the fact that at the lowest point in my life I stumbled across Robert McCrum’s '100 Best Novels in English'. This compilation so impressed me that I challenged myself to read (or re-read) all 100 of the author's suggestions. As Robert's own selection process limited him to one novel per author, I was confronted with reading 100 different styles. And despite his clever choices ensuring that I liked many and absolutely loved many more, one or two left me cold, and some I found utterly unreadable.

Of the roughly ninety novels that I completed, several dozen affected me profoundly. With the best of them setting me off on a voyage of (self) discovery, that culminated with being Recalled to Life, and with the idea of creating a range of 'Nace' T-shirts! Naturally, having been so moved by some of the passages within these mighty tomes, I did what any sane person would have, and transcribed the most meaningful into a scrapbook of quotes, notes, quips, and scribbles. From those humble beginnings Quite Literary emerged.

The where and when  

I wanted Quite Literary to act as an antidote to the generic offerings available online. To give fellow literature lovers who like to display their allegiance to their favourite authors and artists in t-shirt form, an avenue to find products that truly represented them. That's why this business has its foundations firmly planted in passion. Like McCrum, every quote from every novel is a personal selection. The works chosen often reflect progressive attitudes towards both old and new ideas relating to fairness, equality, diversity, and inclusivity.

The things we create are inspired by what are generally regarded as ‘the classics’: from Bunyan to Bukowski. Of course there are exceptions (Elmore Leonard for instance), and of course literary allegiances shift and evolve over time. Realising that, when friends got that strange don’t-you-dare look in their eye at the mere mention of anything lupine, I sat up in bed, and read Woolf. And was richly rewarded. Our logo is a winged totem pole comprised of three open books. My dream would be to see two random Quite Literary wearers meet, drawn together by our totemic apparel and a shared love of great literature.