Wouldn’t it be cool to write a book someday? It would be safe to say that many students would answer “yes” to that question. A number of Washington University alumni have fulfilled that dream, having composed literary works spanning a variety of genres and unusual topics.

If you’ve heard his name before, you may remember him as Chelsea Clinton’s ex-boyfriend. Aside from his celebrity relationship, Wash. U. alum Ian Klaus has another claim to fame; Klaus wrote a book entitled “Elvis is Titanic: Classroom Tales from Iraqi Kurdistan” that was published by Vintage Books USA in September of last year. This non-fiction piece deals with Klaus’ experience at Salahaddin University in Arbil, Iraq during the spring of 2005. As a Rhodes Scholar, Klaus taught American history and English at the university during the turbulence of the war and the instability that punctuated the beginning of post-Saddam Iraq.

Fans of poetry will be pleased to count Amber Flora Thomas as one of our alums. She graduated from Washington University’s Master of Fine Arts program a few years back, and in 2005, she published a collection of poems entitled “Eye of Water.” This collection received the Cave Canem Poetry Prize in 2004. Thomas has also won several other awards for her work, including the Ann Stanford Prize and the Richard Peterson Prize. She is presently a faculty member at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Juniors and seniors may remember a buzz around campus concerning a pop-up book about bras. In November 2006, “Hoorah for the Bra: A Perky Peek at the History of the Brassiere” hit the bookshelves. This colorful pop-up was written, illustrated and designed by Cheree Berry and is a fun and interactive way to learn about the developing identity of the bra over time. The book is ornately designed, bound in pink satin and closing with a bra clasp just for fun (or for practice—it serves whichever function you need).

Berry graduated in 2000 from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, where she is now an adjunct lecturer in communication design. Aside from teaching, Berry worked as an associate art director for Kate Spade in New York, working on the wedding and personalized stationary lines. She currently designs stationary for her own company, Cheree Berry Paper. To check out her designs or place an order, visit her Web site at www.chereeberry.com.

Feel like you’re having a quarter-life crisis? So did Abby Wilner. In fact, she coined the phrase after she graduated from Wash. U. in the late 1990s. Wilner wrote “The Quarterlifer’s Companion” and co-authored “Quarterlife Crisis: The Unique Challenges of Life in Your Twenties.” Both of the books deal with managing the difficult transition from college student to adult and all the pleasures and horrors that come with it. Accompanying the books is a Web site, quarterlifecrisis.com, that has various interactive features, including a message board. Wilner and Cathy Stocker, another co-founder of quarterlifecrisis.com, also hold workshops at universities across the country. When she’s not helping people through crises, Wilner works as a web administrator in Washington D.C.

All of the books mentioned in this article are available for purchase at the Washington University campus bookstore. So if you’re looking for a good read, head over to Mallinckrodt to be inspired by the impressive feats of Wash. U. alumni.