Recently, I saw this hilarious photo of author Bohumil Hrabal tweeted by New Directions. In it, the author sits outside at his typewriter with a gruff look on his face, wearing possibly one of the best hats to have ever graced the head of man or beast. So I got to thinking about hats. Hats on writers, to be exact. Because, as it turns out, writers tend to be fairly creative with their headgear as well as with their words. To prove it, here you shall find a collection of epic hats as worn by famous writers. “Epic” is, of course, subjective, but consider it here to mean crazy, extravagant, weird, funny, particularly large or particularly attractive. Enjoy.
Bohumil Hrabal, writing outside despite the weather. (via New Directions)
Ernest Hemingway on a boat in the Bahamas in 1935 with a big ol’ hat and a big ol’ gun. Apparently he used that gun to try and ward off the sharks that were attacking the big ol’ tuna he was reeling in. Didn’t work. (via)
Ursula Le Guin, Queen of SF. (photo by Denise Rehse Watson via)
Gentlemen prefer ladies in incredible hats, like Anita Loos. (via)
Dr. Seuss (AKA Theodor Seuss Geisel) actually had quite a collection of extravagant hats, which you can view more selections from here. (photo via The Art of Dr. Seuss)
Edith Sitwell wears her side-eye in the front and her hat to the ceiling. (via The Spectator)
Gorgeous Maya Angelou, in the cheeriest of hats. (via)
Neil Gaiman with extra eyeballs. As you might well expect. (via TV Tropes)
Speaking of Gaiman, here he is again with the excellently behatted Alan Moore at Moore’s wedding. (via)
Poet Marianne Moore actually wore a ton of cool toppers, but her trademark was the (rather eccentric) tricorn, of which she once said: “I like the shape—it conceals the defects of the head.” (via)
Well, he’s Russian. (via WYNC)
Tom Wolfe: killer suit game, killer hat game. (photo by Henry Leutwyler via Graphis)
Unwrap this extravagant present for a young Agatha Christie. (via)
Zora Neale Hurston crushing it with one perfectly laid feather. (via)
An American classic. (photo by Fred W. McDarrah via Elephant)
I don’t even know what I can say about this hat on Edith Wharton, except that I’m not even looking at the dogs. (via NPR)
Virginia Woolf, ultimate cool girl. (via)
And here’s Vita Sackville-West, looking luminous. (photo by Ciano Gia’ Fatta via)
Slay, Jean Rhys, slay. (via Bitch Media)
Willa Cather wearing a straight cake. (via BookRiot)
Margaret Atwood tweeted this adorable picture of herself, adding: “#Estonian #cat #hat. :)” #loveher.
Langston Hughes, looking dapper as hell. (via WSJ)
Mark Twain is known for his stately top hats and boaters, but here he is looking frankly adorable in a bonnet, playing Leander. (You may more may not find more photos of authors in costumes here)
Hunter S. Thompson, upping the creep factor. Unless that spider is all in our minds? Whoa. (via)
Truman Capote was a man with a stellar hat collection, but this one is one of my faves. (via)
Gabriel García Márquez looking jaunty in a sombrero vueltiao. (via)
Do not mess with Hermann Hesse. Especially in this hat. (via)
Beatrix Potter, wearing her garden. (via)
Djuna Barnes was pretty much always wearing a dope hat, but the glamour of this one puts it just a shade over the rest. (via)
Terry Pratchett, you are missed. (via)