Literary Sneakers

Inside of my home, to the right of my front door, under my coat rack lives a collection of my most worn shoes, which I recently realized were all sneakers and flip flops (and maybe a pair of boots in the winter). What can I say? Comfort is a key ingredient in my fashion choices.

I have a pair of walking sneakers, running sneakers, casual sneakers, Converse sneakers, work-appropriate sneakers. Do I have a pair of literary sneakers?

Literary sneakers, you ask? Of course they exist! Literary shoes of all sorts are trending this year.

An extensive review of literary shoes comes from BookRiot and covers Modge Podge Print Pumps, to Doctor Who Heels, to Romance Cover Platforms.

Then there’s The Poetics Project that alerts us to several do-it-yourself literary shoes including Where the Wild Things Are Vans, Spiderman Sneakers, and The Walking Dead Comic Book Shoes.

New Balance released a line of shoes called Connoisseur Author’s Collection, which are, according to its website, “Inspired by American authors and their timeless works, the Connoisseur Authors collection is for the well-read and well-dressed. Each sneaker captures the essence of New York City, the sea or the battlefield. These settings were muses for many iconic authors and are brought to life in this Made in USA collection by high-quality materials and unique details.”

Will wearing these shoes make you better readers and writers? That’s for you to decide. No doubt they will spark a conversation with your literary friends.

And for fun, here's an article about another type of literary shoes--meaningful props in literary fiction.

If you were to design a shoe to celebrate characters or settings in your stories, what would they look like?

Written by Anne Greenawalt, writer and writing instructor.