Pen & Ink

“Together, [these pictures and stories] do the work of great literature-gathering a force so true they ultimately tell a story that includes us all.” -Cheryl Strayed, from the Introduction

From New York Times bestselling illustrator Wendy MacNaughton and bestselling author Isaac Fitzgerald--the stories behind the question, Why did you get that tattoo?

Every tattoo tells a story, whether the ink is meaningful or the result of a misguided decision made at the age of fourteen, representative of the wearer''s true self or the accidental consequence of a bender. Pen & Ink grants us access to the tattoos-and the stories behind them-of writers Cheryl Strayed and Roxane Gay; rockers in the bands Korn, Otep, and Five Finger Death Punch; and even a porn star. But it also illuminates the tattoos of the ordinary people living in our midst-from professors to thrift store salespeople, cafe owners to librarians, union organizers to administrators-and their extraordinary lives.

Curated and edited by Isaac Fitzgerald, who sports twelve tattoos himself, each story “is like being let in on . . . secrets by . . . strangers who passed you on the street or sat across from you on the train” (Strayed) and features Wendy MacNaughton''s gorgeously rendered full-color illustrations of the tattoos on black-and-white drawings of the bearer''s body. At its heart, beneath its colorful skin, Pen & Ink is an exploration of the decision to scar one''s self with a symbol and a story.