Skip to content

Tag: janet hansen

Published December 19, 2023

Notable Book Covers of 2023

At the turn of the year, writer and activist Cory Doctorow coined the term “enshitification.” Although he was specifically describing the process of online services getting worse for users, it was hard not to see it everywhere in 2023.

In his annual look at the year’s best book covers for the New York Times, art director Matt Dorfman recounts a friend describing 2023 as a “year of survival”, a year of “no growth, no withering, just getting by.”

This year saw a centuries-old business contending with rounds of buyouts and layoffs, alongside an endless news cycle involving two brutal wars from which no authors, friends, enemies or strangers were immune from accountability for any unrehearsed sentiment they might voice in passing. Add to this the ongoing concern about how artificial intelligence will affect a business historically dependent upon human creativity — yet through it all, there was still the matter of making books, and their covers, to get on with.

I read Matt’s piece the same day I read an article by Kyle Chayka in the New Yorker about his search for an epochal term to “evoke the panicky incoherence of our lives of late.” The suggestions range from the bland ‘Long 2016,’ to the incredibly ominous-sounding ‘Chthulucene,’ the Lovecraftian ‘New Dark Age,’ and the frankly terrifying and plausible ‘Jackpot’ from William Gibson’s 2014 novel The Peripheral.

This was the context of life and work in 2023.

Matt notes some designers found inspiration in the zeitgeist. He’s not wrong. But, ironically perhaps, I feel less optimistic about the overall picture than he does.

At the risk of repeating what I’ve written in the past couple of years, it’s like we’re stuck in a holding pattern, circling the same design ideas. Trends have stuck around. A lot of covers feel safe. Some of this was the books themselves. I’m not sure exactly how many celebrity memoirs is too many, but I’m pretty sure we reached that point and sailed right past it in 2023. No doubt some of it is sales and marketing departments sanding down all the edges and demanding the tried and true (see Zachary Petit’s alternative best of 2023 piece on killed covers for Fast Company). But I would not be surprised if it designers were just getting caught up in the churn — too many books, too many covers, and too much other stuff to worry about.

Or maybe it’s just me.

Rouge by Mona Awad; design by Oliver Munday (Simon & Schuster / September 2023)
Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; design by Regina Flath (Del Rey Books / July 2023)
Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez; design by Donna Cheng (Hogarth / September 2023)

One of the themes of the year was nostalgia, which I’m sure can also be put down to the present being pretty fucking awful. It was apparent across almost all genres, including literary fiction, but nowhere more so than in the resurgent supernatural suspense and horror categories. There were creative stylistic mashups with retro vibes, along side fastidious Stranger Things-like homages to the 1980s and Stephen King.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward; design by Katie Klimowicz (Tor / August 2023)
The Only One Left by Riley Sager; design by Kaitlin Kall (Dutton / June 2023)
Come Closer by Sara Gran; design by Caroline Johnson (Soho Press / September 2023)

One genuinely pleasant surprise was the number of interesting covers from Canadian publishers this year. They’ve been quietly risk-averse in recent years, so it was nice to see a few bolder design choices getting approved. I was happy to see a Canadian cover was one of the top picks on Literary Hub’s (very, very long) list of the best covers of 2023.  

There were other things to cheer this year too.

The Lights by Ben Lerner; design by David Pearson (Granta / September 2023)
Total Reset by Sinéad Brady; design Steve Leard (HarperCollins / March 2023)
How to Build a Boat by Elaine Feeney; design by Zoe Norvell (Biblioasis / November 2023)

Spine continued to give space to designers to talk about their work in a way I’ve never been able to do consistently here. You can find their 2023 cover picks here.

David Pearson started the Book Cover Review, a website for short reviews of book covers.

Zoe Norvell’s I Need A Book Cover, a resource for book cover inspiration as well as place for authors and publishers to connect with designers, also went live.

Steve Leard launched Cover Meeting, a podcast series of in-depth interviews with cover designers (including David and Zoe among others). As Mark Sinclair notes in his piece on book cover design this year for Creative Review, Steve’s conversations shed light on wider concerns in the industry as well as each designer’s individual process. Have a listen if you haven’t already.

Thanks for reading.

The Adult by Bronwyn Fischer; design by Kate Sinclair (Random House Canada / May 2023)

Also designed by Kate Sinclair:

Landscapes by Christine Lai; design by Kate Sinclair (Doubleday Canada / May 2023)
The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright; design by Kate Sinclair; art by Darek Grabus (McClelland & Stewart / September 2023)

The Annual Banquet of The Gravediggers’ Guild by Mathias Énard; design by John Gall (New Directions / December 2023)

I like John’s cover for Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck, also published by New Directions, a lot too.

Bariloche by Andrés Neuman; design by Alban Fischer (Open Letter / March 2023)

The Bee Sting by Paul Murray; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2023)

Also designed by Na Kim:

Grand Tour by Elisa Gonzalez; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)
Close to Home by Michael Magee; design by Na Kim; photograph by Oumayma B. Tanfous (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / May 2023)

Beijing Sprawl by Xu Zechen; design by Andrew Walters (Two Lines Press / June 2023)

Berlin by Bea Setton; design by Emily Mahon; cover image by Nataša Denić (Penguin Books / May 2023)

Also designed by Emily Mahon:

Lost Believers by Irina Zhorov; design by Emily Mahon (Scribner / August 2023)
Do Tell by Lindsay Lynch; design by Emily Mahon; illustration and lettering by Studio Martina Flor (Doubleday / July 2023)

B.F.F. by Christie Tate; design by Ben Wiseman (Avid Reader Press / February 2023)

Blue Hunger by Viola Di Grado; design by Myunghee Kwon (Bloomsbury / March 2023)

Breaking and Entering by Don Gillmor; design by Michel Vrana; photograph by Joe Cohen (Biblioasis / August 2023)

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll; design by Kaitlin Kall (Simon & Schuster / September 2023)

Brutes by Dizz Tate; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / February 2023)

Caret, Pilcrow and Cedilla by Adam Mars-Jones; design by Jonathan Pelham (Faber / August 2023)

I also really liked Jonny’s cover design for the UK edition of Tremor by Teju Cole, published by Faber.

Cat Prince by Michael Pedersen; design by Gray318 (Little, Brown / July 2023)

The Circle by Katherena Vermette; design by Jennifer Griffiths; art by KC Adams (Hamish Hamilton Canada / September 2023)

Chrysalis by Anna Metcalfe; design by Jack Smyth (Granta / May 2023)

Vengeance is Mine by Marie Ndiaye; design by Jack Smyth (Quercus Publishing / October 2023)
A Thread of Violence by Mark O’Connell; design by Jack Smyth (Granta / July 2023)
Mister Mister by Guy Gunaratne; design by Jack Smyth (Pantheon / October 2023)

The Complete Works of Álvaro de Campos by Fernando Pessoa; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / July 2023)

The Details by Ia Genberg translated by Kira Josefsson; design Stephen Brayda; illustration Najeebah Al-Ghadban (Harpervia / August 2023)

A Dictator Calls by Ismail Kadare; design by Matt Broughton (Vintage / August 2023)

The Employees by Olga Ravn; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / February 2023)

Excavations by Hannah Michell; design by Arsh Raziuddin (One World / July 2023)

The Girls’ Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank; design by Annie Atkins (Penguin / May 2023)

Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / July 2023)

Good Men by Arnon Grunberg; design by Anna Jordan (Open Letter / May 2023)

Greek Lessons by Han Kang; design by Anna Kochman (Hogarth / April 2023)

Hangman by Maya Binyam; design by Alex Merto; art by Belkis Ayón (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2023)

Also designed by Alex Merto:

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova; design by Alex Merto (Zando / March 2023)
The Future, The Future by Adam Thirlwell; design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / October 2023)
Happy by Celina Baljeet Basra; design by Alex Merto (Astra House / November 2023)

Hope by Andrew Ridker; design by Tyler Comrie; photograph by Melissa Ann Pinney (Viking / July 2023)

Tyler Comrie’s cover for Time Without Keys by Ida Vitale, published by New Directions, is also very nice.

House Woman by Adorah Nworah; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / June 2023)

I have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Viking / February 2023)

The Illiterate by Ágota Kristóf; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / April 2023)

Also designed by Oliver Munday:

The Guest by Emma Cline; design by Oliver Munday (Random House / May 2023)
Life on Delay by John Hendrikson; design by Oliver Munday (Knopf / January 2023)

Island City by Laura Adamczyk; design by Jennifer Heuer (FSG Originals / March 2023)

The Joy of Consent by Manon Garcia; design by Jaya Miceli (Belknap Press / October 2023)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin; design Jaya Miceli; art by Anna Weyant (Scribner / February 2023)
The New Life by Tom Crewe; design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner / January 2023)

Julia by Sandra Newman; design by Luke Bird (Mariner / October 2023)

Also designed by Luke Bird:


Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan; design by Luke Bird (Footnote Press / June 2023)
Hangman by Maya Binyam; design by Luke Bird (Pushkin Press / August 2023)

The Last Bookseller by Gary Goodman; design by Kimberly Glyder (University of Minnesota Press / October 2023)

The Librarianist by Patrick DeWitt; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / July 2023)

The Love of Singular Men by Victor Heringer; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / September 2023)

Lucky Dogs by Helen Schulman; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Christopher Brand (Knopf / June 2023)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:

Disruptions by Steven Millhauser; design by Janet Hansen (Alfred A. Knopf / August 2023)
The Sorrows of Others by Ada Zhang; design by Janet Hansen (Public Space Books / May 2023)

Our Migrant Souls by Héctor Tobar; design by Rodrigo Corral (MCD / May 2023)

Poverty by Matthew Desmond; design by Christopher Brand (Crown / March 2023)

Prophet by Helen MacDonald and Sin Blache; design by Dan Mogford; lettering by Martin Naumann (Vintage / August 2023)

Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey; design by Mumtaz Mustafa; art by Sari Shryack (William Morrow & Co / January 2023)

Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter; design by Natalia Olbinski; art by Angela Faustina (Scribner / July 2023)

The Sea Elephants by Shastri Akella; design by Dave Litman (Flatiron Books / July 2023)

Shy by Max Porter; design by Carlos Esparza (Graywolf / May 2023)

Someone Who Isn’t Me by Geoff Rickly; design by Jesse Reed; art by Jesse Draxler (Rose Books / July 2023)

Sublunar by Harald Voetmann; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / August 2023)

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:

The Dimensions of a Cave by Greg Jackson; design by Jamie Keenan (Granta / October 2023)
Dr. No by Percival Everett; design by Jamie Keenan (Influx Press / March 2023)

The Sullivanians by Alexander Stille; design by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / June 2023)

Also designed by June Park:

The Upstairs Delicatessen by Dwight Garner; design June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / October 2023)
Couplets by Maggie Millner; design by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2023)

To Battersea Park by Philip Hensher; design by Jo Thomson (Fourth Estate / March 2023)

Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman; design by Pete Garceau (PublicAffairs / January 2023)

Also designed by Pete Garceau:

Deadline by Jill Lepore; design by Pete Garceau (Liveright Books / August 2023)
Going Infinite by Michael Lewis; design by Pete Garceau (W. W. Norton / October 2023)

The Vunerables by Sigrid Nunez; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / November 2023)

Also designed by Lauren Peter-Collaer:

What Napoleon Could Not Do by Dk Nnuro; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / February 2023)
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / August 2023)

While Supplies Last by Anita Lahey; design by David Drummond (Signal Editions / April 2023)

Comments closed
Published September 29, 2023

Book Covers of Note, September 2023

Hey. I hope you’re safe and well and caught up on your podcasts, shows, and TBR pile.

I thought this was going to be a short post this month, and then it turned into a long one — or longer than expected at least. I don’t have too much to add to the covers. I’m busy, you’re busy. It’s almost October, literally no one has time for this! But there are some lovely covers this month. There’s a bit autumnal orange and ennui, some nice type, and a couple of Canadian covers (for those keeping count), and a couple of appropriately off-beat ones from our friends at New Directions.*

American Gun by Cameron McWhirter and Zusha Elinson; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / September 2023)

Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll; design by Kaitlin Kall (Simon & Schuster / September 2023)

The Circle by Katherena Vermette; design by Jennifer Griffiths; art by KC Adams (Hamish Hamilton Canada / September 2023)

Creep by Myriam Gurba; design by Clay Smith (Avid Reader Press / September 2023)

Disruptions by Steven Millhauser; design by Janet Hansen (Alfred A. Knopf / August 2023)

Fear by Robert Peckham; design by Tom Etherington (Profile / September 2023)

Goth by Lol Tolhurst; design by Timothy O’Donnell (Quercus Publishing / September 2023)

This whole thing is ridiculously in my wheelhouse. The cover photo is by the author (of course!), and there’s a fun note about trying to source the type in Timothy’s Instagram post about the design.

Grand Tour by Elisa Gonzalez; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

I’m not sure it was the intention, but I like the trippy film title / goth art project quality of this.

How I Won a Nobel Prize by Julius Taranto; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown & Co / September 2023)

The Lights by Ben Lerner; design by David Pearson (Granta / September 2023)

Hopefully you’ve all had chance to listen to David on the Cover Meeting podcast by now. It’s really good!

The cover of the US edition published by FSG was designed by Thom Colligan. It’s interesting that they’re similar and yet different. I wonder if it was brief or just a creative coincidence?

The Love of Singular Men by Victor Heringer; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / September 2023)

Love the red type on green.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova; design by Alex Merto (Zando / March 2023)

This gives me decidedly 1990’s New York publishing vibes.

Starter Villain by John Scalzi; cover art by Tristan Elwell (Tor / September 2023)

This just makes me think of a corporate Behemoth.

Time Without Keys by Ida Vitale; design by Tyler Comrie (New Directions / September 2023)

We Measure the Earth With Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama; design by Mia Kwon; illustration by Grace J Kim (Bloomsbury / September 2023)

This is the paperback cover. Mia also designed the jacket of the hardcover published last year.

Wound by Oksana Vasyakina; design by Nicole Caputo; art by Jenny Barron (Catapult / September 2023)

The Wren, The Wren by Anne Enright; design by Kate Sinclair; art by Darek Grabus (McClelland & Stewart / September 2023)

I’m sure I’m not the only one to get Edward Hopper vibes from this cover.

The cover of the UK edition was designed by Suzanne Dean with a cover illustration by Anna Morrison.

*A bit of admin from last month: I finally managed to spend some time browsing a bookstore and I was able to ascertain that the cover of the US edition of Bridge by Lauren Beukes was designed by Kirin Diemont. Apologies to Kirin for not crediting her at the time in last month’s post. It’s updated now)

Comments closed
Published June 29, 2023

Book Covers of Note, June 2023

Hey, I hope you are keeping safe and well. There’s a wide variety of styles this month, but pink, yellow and orange are something of a minor theme (although since writing this I’ve actually removed one of the covers that combined bright pink and yellow because the book isn’t out until September — you’ll see it in a couple of months).

I think we’re also starting to see a potential new trend with photographic covers for fiction. I don’t have the vocabulary to neatly identify the style of photography I mean (sorry photography people — I mostly studied paintings in school!), but it’s basically contemporary colour photographs of candid, and sometimes intimate, social moments. It’s different, if adjacent, to the more posed ‘stylish sad girl’ phenomenon, or the use of black and white photography for ‘serious’ literary fiction I think. Anyway, maybe it’s a thing? Time will tell…

American Ending by Mary Kay Zuravleff; design by Laura Williams; illustration by Nora Ayoagi (Blair / June 2023)

I feel like there should be more blackletter on book covers. Why isn’t this more a thing?

Bellies by Nicola Dinan; design by Beci Kelly; photograph by Bobby Doherty (Transworld / June 2023)

Cacophony of Bone by Kerri ní Dochartaigh; design by Rafi Romaya; illustration by Vasilisa Romanenko (Canongate / May 2023)

Forgiving Imelda Marcos by Nathan Go; design by Eric Fuentecilla (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / June 2023)

House Woman by Adorah Nworah; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / June 2023)

Kairos by Jenny Erpenbeck; design by John Gall (New Directions / June 2023)

La Tercera by Gina Apostol; design by Jaya Miceli (Soho Press / May 2023)

Lucky Dogs by Helen Schulman; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Christopher Brand (Knopf / June 2023)

The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller; design by Beth Steidle; art by Lisa Ericson (Tin House / June 2023)

I was wondering why the weirdly wonderful art seemed familiar and then I remembered that the cover of Lisa Wells’ nonfiction book Believers designed by Na Kim also makes use of Lisa Ericson painting…

I know I say everything gives me Annihilation vibes but Lisa Ericson’s art definitely gives me Annihilation vibes. And speaking of weird Vandermeer vibes…

The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Naylor; design by Alex Merto; illustration by María Jesús Contreras (Picador US / May 2023)

Paved Paradise by Henry Grabar; design by Ben Wiseman (Penguin / May 2023)

Ponyboy by Eliot Duncan; design by Luke Bird (Footnote Press / June 2023)

The cover of the US edition of Ponyboy, published by W.W. Norton this month, was designed by Richard Ljoenes. The cover photo is by Maria Molchanova.

The Rachel Incident by Caroline O’Donoghue; design by Nico Taylor; photograph by Ewen Spencer (Little Brown UK / June 2023)

The cover of the US edition of The Rachel Incident, published by Knopf, was designed by John Gall. The painting is by Gideon Rubin.

The UK cover also reminded me of the UK cover of Young Mungo by Douglas Stuart designed by Stuart Wilson which features a Wolfgang Tillmans photo.

(Oh and if anyone can tell me who designed and illustrated the Australian cover for The Rachel Incident — which is completely different again — I will be happy to add it in!)

Run Baby Run by Melissa Lenhardt; design by Olga Grlic (Graydon House / June 2023)

Soviet Self-Hatred by Eliot Borenstein; design by Philip Pascuzzo (Cornell University Press / June 2023)

Where I Slept by Libby Angel; design by W.H. Chong; photograph by Konrad Winkler (Text / May 2023)

Text have also just published a collection of W.H. Chong’s drawing and paintings called Portraits, which includes portraits of some designers you might recognize…

4 Comments
Published October 28, 2022

Book Covers of Note, October 2022

This month’s post includes a few covers that I missed earlier in the year along side the new and recent releases. I’m starting to think about my annual recap so please let me know if you think I’ve overlooked any other particularly notable covers that stood out for you and/or seemed emblematic of wider trends in 2022.

And just a reminder with all the stuff going on with social media that if you’d prefer to get new posts auto-magically emailed to you, you can subscribe here. I have also re-opened comments on new posts after closing them for a few months if you want to politely share your thoughts below.

Africa Risen by Sheree Renée Thomas, Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki and Zelda Knight; design by Christine Foltzer; art by Manzi Jackson (Tordotcom / November 2022)

Alindarka’s Children by Alhierd Bacharevic; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / June 2022)

The Come Up by Jonathan Abrams; design by Chris Allen (Crown / October 2022)

Diary of a Misfit by Casey Parks; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / August 2022)

Ejaculate Responsibly by Gabrielle Blair; design Studio Eight and a Half (Workman / October 2022)

Feral City by Jeremiah Moss; design by Gregg Kulick (W.W. Norton / October 2022)

I’ve noted before that pink is a bit of a thing at the moment, but it’s kind of interesting that it’s being used on ‘grittier’ books…

Ghost Music by An Yu; design Suzanne Dean (Harvill Secker / November 2022)

Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty; design by Diane Chonette (Tin House / July 2022)

No Land in Sight by Charles Simic; design by John Gall (Knopf / August 2022)”

“Fuuuuuuuuuck….!” is the only way I can describe the mixture of awe and annoyance that I hadn’t thought of it I felt when I saw this cover. So simple and so clever.

O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker; design by Tristan Offit (Scribner / September 2022)

This has a very similar ‘obscured face collage’ feel to Tristan Offit’s cover for Briefly, A Delicious Life by Nell Stevens, which I thought I had posted here earlier in the year but apparently did not (probably because I didn’t — and still don’t! — know who designed the cover of the UK edition (it was designed by Mel Four, photograph by Marta Bevacqua) and I wanted to post them together?).

Pacifique by Sarah L. Taggart; design by Natalie Olsen (Coach House Books / October 2022)

People Person by Candice Carty-Williams; design by Emma A. Van Deun (Scout Press / September 2022)

The Singularities by John Banville; design by John Gall (Knopf / October 2022)

I don’t know if this actually reminds me of another cover, or if it’s just very Gallsian.

But actual blobs (as opposed to ‘book blobs‘) are a thing…

Solenoid by Mircea Cărtărescu; design by Anna Jordan (Deep Vellum / October 2022)

Toad by Katherine Dunn; design by June Park; illustration by Lydia Ortiz (MCD / November 2022)

Waiting for Ted by Marieka Bigg; design by Luke Bird (Cinder House / October 2022)

The Wall by Marlen Haushofer; design by Matt Dorfman (New Directions / June 2022)

The Waste Land by Matthew Hollis; design by Jamie Keenan (Faber & Faber / October 2022)

Mr. Keenan also designed the cover for the Liveright edition of The Waste Land itself a few years ago.

(The US edition of Matthew Hollis’s book, forthcoming from W. W. Norton, also has an interesting cover. If anyone from Norton would like to send me a hi-res image with the design credit, I’ll be happy to add it in!)

Weasels in the Attic by Hiroko Oyamada; design by Luke Bird (Granta / November 2022)

Comments closed
Published May 27, 2022

Book Covers of Note, May 2022

I compile these posts over the month and then write this bit at the end if I have anything to say. I really don’t have the words at the moment. Posting about the most superficial of subjects feels faintly ridiculous at the end of yet another awful week. But here we are. I am just going to refer you to Wednesday’s Today in Tabs and say that there a lot of really nice covers this month if you are need of distraction…

Appliance by J. O. Morgan; design by the author (Jonathan Cape / May 2022)

City of Orange by David Yoon; design by Eric Fuentecilla (G. P. Putnam’s Sons / May 2022)

Elektra by Jennifer Saint; design by Joanne O’Neill (Flatiron Books / May 2022)

The cover of Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, also designed by Joanne O’Neill, was on my Notable list last year.

The cover of the UK edition of Elektra, published by Headline imprint Wildfire last month, was designed by Micaela Alcaino who recently won Designer of the Year at the British Book Awards.

Illustration of brunette woman with wreath of flowers

España by Giles Tremlett; design by Jessie Price; art by Oscar Dominguez (Head of Zeus / April 2022)

The type is apparently Ohno Blazeface if you are curious.

Finding Me by Viola Davis; design Stephen Brayda; photograph by AB+DM (HarperOne / April 2022)

The Illusion of Simple by Charles Forrest Jones; design by Derek Thornton / Notch Design (University of Iowa / May 2022)

Insomnia by Sarah Pinborough; design by Juliana Lee (William Morrow & Company / April 2022)

I like the wobbly type.

The Life of Crime by Martin Edwards; design by Steve Leard (HarperCollins / May 2022)

I was reminded of Jon Gray‘s cover for Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco from what seems like ages ago (2010)… Of course they look nothing alike. I had completely forgotten the pen was at jaunty angle.

Linea Nigra by Jazmina Barrera; design by Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / May 2022)

Losing Face by George Haddad; design Josh Durham (University of Queensland Press / May 2022)

Mean Baby by Selma Blair; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Peggy Sirota (Knopf / May 2022)

I don’t post a lot of celebrity memoirs here, but I thought these were an interesting pair to compare and contrast. Similar but different…

My Phantoms by Gwendoline Riley; design by Jack Smyth (Granta / May 2022)

Vladimir by Julia May Jonas; design by Katie Tooke (Picador / May 2022)

This made me think of Rafqa Touma’s piece for The Guardian earlier this year, ‘Well-dressed and distressed: why sad young women are the latest book cover trend’.

An Olive Grove in Ends by Moses McKenzie; design by Jack Smyth (Headline / April 2022)

The Premonitions Bureau by Sam Knight; design Jack Smyth (Faber & Faber / May 2022)

A very Saul Bass / Vertigo vibe to this.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel; design by Abby Weintraub (Knopf / April 2022)

I think this is possibly my favourite of the recent Emily St. John Mandel covers.

Sedating Elaine by Dawn Winter; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / April 2022)

The endless possibilities of a banana and sharpie… (the cover of Come On Up was designed by the multi-talented Roman Muradov)

Son of Elsewhere by Elamin Abdelmahmoud; design by Jennifer Griffiths (McClelland & Stewart / May 2022)

The cover of the US edition was designed by Rachel Ake Kuech using a illustration by Grant Haffner. The difference between how Canada represents Canada and how the US represents Canada is…. interesting.

Big vertical light leaks might also be a thing… (Freedomland designed by Henry Sene Yee for Cornell University Press)

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / May 2022)

True Biz by Sara Novic; design by Jack Smyth (Little, Brown / April 2022)

Apparently this is Jack Smyth month on the blog…

You Have a Friend in 10A by Maggie Shipstead; design by Kelly Blair; illustration by Toby Leigh (Knopf / May 2022)

The cover of the UK edition, published by Doubleday, was designed by Irene Martinez:

I picked a lot of orange covers this month. I did say it was a thing.

Illustration of brunette woman with wreath of flowers

The combination of pink and orange maybe a thing within the thing…?

A speaking of pink and orange…

You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi; design by Anna Morrison (Faber and Faber / May 2022)

The cover of the US edition, published by Atria, was designed by Laywan Kwan.

Comments closed
Published January 27, 2022

Book Covers of Note, January 2022

You know, I started 2022 with such good intentions and yet here we are again at the end of January on a paved road to hell. At least there are some lovely book covers to look at this month. Sigh.

All Day is a Long Time by David Sanchez; design by Kelly Winton (Harper / January 2022)

Anatomy by Dana Schwartz; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration by Zach Meyer (Wednesday Books / January 2022)

Anthem by Noah Hawley; design by Alex Merto (Grand Central Publishing / January 2022)

The Book of Malcolm by Fraser Sutherland; design by David Drummond (Rare Machines / January 2022)

I feel like squiggly lines might be David Drummond thing…

Disaster Mon Amour by David Thomson; design by Matt Avery (Yale University Press / January 2022)

This reminded me of John Gall’s cover for The Republic of False Truths by Alaa Al Aswany, and I kind of love the juxtaposition.

Fiona and Jane by Jean Chen Ho; design and illustration by Brianna Harden (Viking / January 2022)

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu; design by Will Staehle (William Morrow & Co. / January 2022)

Fear of Black Consciousness by Lewis R. Gordon; design by Oliver Munday (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2022)

This brought to mind Greg Heinimann‘s cover for Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo Lodge from a couple of years ago.

Interesting Women by Andrea Lee; design by Tristan Offit (Scribner / January 2022)

Tristan Offit also designed the cover for Red Island House by Andrea Lee, which featured in my post looking back at 2021. The paperback is out next month.

Last Resort by Andrew Lipstein; design Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2022)

Between this, and the covers of All Day is a Long Time, and Falling by T. J. Newman (designed by David Litman), I feel like we’re having a bit 1970’s revival…

Present Tense Machine by Gunnhild Øyehaug; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2022)

The Raptures by Jan Carson; design by Irene Martinez Costa (Doubleday UK / January 2022)

Tenderness by Alison Macleod; design by Patti Ratchford (Bloomsbury / November 2021)

I’m sorry I missed this cover last year. November pubs are always tricky.

Patti recently posted a few of her covers from 2021 on Instagram. I like the cover of Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket by Hilma Wolitzer a lot too. The vintage Austin Briggs illustration is great.

White Bull by Elizabeth Hughey; design by Alban Fischer (Sarabande Books / January 2022)

Worn by Sofi Thanhauser; design by Janet Hansen (Pantheon / January 2022)

You Don’t Know Us Negroes by Zora Neale Hurston; design by Stephen Brayda; illustration by Jessica Coppet (Amistad Books / January 2022)

Print Magazine did a piece last year on Amistad Books’ repackaging of Zora Neale Hurston’s work. I’ve featured a couple of the covers here in the past too.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zara Neale Hurston; design by Stephen Brayda; art by Patrick Dougher (Amistad Books / January 2021)
Hitting a Straight Lick With a Crooked Stick; design by Stephen Brayda; art by Bradley Theodore (Amistad Books / January 2020)
1 Comment
Published December 14, 2021

Notable Book Covers of 2021

Earlier this year, a Canadian magazine asked me what the latest trends in book cover design were. I don’t think I had a very satisfactory answer. 2021 felt very much like a continuation of 2020, which itself felt like a year on hold.

The trends that came to mind were not exactly new. In no particular order: big faces (big sunglasses!); cropped faces; hands; mouths; postmodern typefaces;1 big skies; rainbows; gradients; the colour orange; psychedelia; collage; contemporary painting.

A lot was made of “blob” covers this year. I’m not sure that anything has really changed since Vulture published this article about “blocky” covers in 2019. They seemed like much the same thing.

Design is about the constraints and, as it turns out, the constraints around designing commercial literary fiction covers that have to work just as well online as in bookstores can lead to similar design solutions — large, legible type, and bright, abstract backgrounds. 2 The surprising thing is not that a few covers look the same when you squint; it’s that more of them don’t.  

There were a lot of good covers (that didn’t look alike) in 2021. LitHub posted 101 of them. Still, it didn’t exactly feel like a vintage year.

Do I say that every December? Possibly.

A few years ago I worried that covers were moving in a more conservative direction, particularly at the big publishers. I’m not sure this has come to pass, at least not in the US. There are plenty of covers from the big, prestigious American literary imprints in this year’s list, as there were last year, and every year before that. 

There are fewer covers from the UK in this year’s list than in previous years though, and I feel less confident about the situation there. From a distance, things seem a little sedate. I may be mistaken. It’s quite possible I haven’t see enough covers — or perhaps enough of the right ones — from British publishers to get a good sense of the overall picture.3

It would not be a surprise, however, if publishers were feeling a little risk-averse at the moment. We are two years into a global pandemic, experiencing a major supply chain issues, and living through a seemingly endless series of sociopolitical crises.

Nor would it be a surprise if designers were personally feeling the effects too — I’m not sure we are talking about this enough, and I’m not sure I know how to.

Thank you to everyone who has supported the blog in 2021. It means a lot. Here are this year’s book covers of note…

After the Sun by Jonas Eika; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer; art by Dorian Legret (Riverhead / August 2021)

Amoralman by Derek Delgaudio; design by John Gall (Knopf / March 2021)

Also designed by John Gall:

Animal by Lisa Taddeo; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / June 2021)

Greg Heinimann talked to Creative Review about his work in April.

Are You Enjoying? by Mira Sethi; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / April 2021)

Ariadne by Jennifer Saint; design by Joanne O’Neill (Flatiron Books / May 2021)

Also designed by Joanne O’Neill:

he Art of Wearing a Trench Coat by Sergi Pàmies; design by Arsh Raziuddin and Oliver Munday (Other Press / March 2021)

The Atmospherians by Alex McElroy; design by Laywan Kwan (Atria / May 2021)

Black Village by Lutz Bassmann; design by Anne Jordan (Open Letter / December 2021)

A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris; design by Gregg Kulick (Little Brown and Company / September 2021)

Come On Up by Jordi Nopca; design by Roman Muradov (Bellevue Literary Press / February 2021)

Consent by Vanessa Springora; design by Stephen Brayda; art by Rozenn Le Gall (Harpervia / February 2021)

Stephen Brayda talked about his design for Consent with Spine Magazine.

Also designed by Stephen Brayda:

The Copenhagen Trilogy by Tove Ditlevsen; design by Na Kim (FSG / January 2021)

Na Kim talked to PRINT about her career and the designs for the Ditlevsen series in February. If, like me, you were wondering about typeface on the covers, it’s Prophet from Dinamo apparently.

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner; design by Na Kim (Knopf / April 2021)

Also designed by Na Kim:

Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Jeremy Miranda (Scribner / August 2021)

Dead Souls by Sam Riviere; design by Jamie Keenan; paper engineering and photography by Gina Rudd (Weidenfeld & Nicholson / May 2021)

Also designed by Mr. Keenan:

The Delivery by Peter Mendelsund; design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / February 2021)

Also designed by Alex Merto:

Detransition Baby by Torrey Peters; design by Rachel Ake Keuch (One World / January 2021)

Dog Flowers by Danielle Geller; design by Anna Kochman; illustration by Mike McQuade (One World / January 2021)

Double Trio by Nathaniel Mackey; design by Rodrigo Corral and Boyang Xia (New Directions / April 2021)

Falling by T. J. Newman; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / July 2021)

Also designed by David Litman:

Fight Night by Mirian Toews; design by Patti Ratchford; illustration by Christina Zimpel (Bloomsbury / October 2021)

Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor; design by Luke Bird (Daunt Books / June 2021)

Also designed by Luke Bird:

Foucault in Warsaw by; design Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Open Letter / June 2021)

God of Mercy by Okezie Nwọka; design Sara Wood (Astra House / November 2021)

Sara Wood talked about her design for God of Mercy with Spine Magazine.

I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness by Claire Vaye Watkins; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / October 2021)

July by Kathleen Ossip; design by Alban Fischer (Sarabande Books / June 2021)

Like Me by Hayley Phelan; design Emma Dolan (Doubleday Canada / July 2021)

Living in Data by Jer Thorp; design by Rodrigo Corral; art by Andrew Kuo (MCD / May 2021)

The Making of Incarnation by Tom McCarthy; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / November 2021)

Matrix by Lauren Groff; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / September 2021)

Mona by Pola Oloixarac; design by Thomas Colligan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / March 2021)

Mother for Dinner by Shalom Auslander; design by Jack Smyth (Picador / February 2021)

Jack Smyth talked to Totally Dublin about his work earlier this year.

Also designed by Jack Smyth:

Mrs Death Misses Death by Salena Godden; design by Gill Heeley (Canongate / January 2021)

Nectarine by Chad Campbell; design by David Drummond (Signal Editions / May 2021)

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder; design by Emily Mahon (Doubleday / July 2021)

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood; design Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead Books / February 2021)

Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:

O by Steven Carroll; design by Gray318 (HarperCollins Australia / February 2021)

Also designed by Gray318:

If you’re wondering about the Super-Seventies Sally Rooney typeface, it is Ronda designed by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnese (I only know because I asked).

Once More With Feeling by Sophie McCreesh; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Anchor Canada / August 2021)

On Time and Water by Andri Snær Magnason; design Zoe Norvell (Open Letter / March 2021)

Outlawed by Anna North; design by Rachel Willey (Bloomsbury / January 2021)

Paradise by Lizzie Johnson; design by Elena Giavaldi (Crown / August 2021)

La Part des Chiens by Marcus Malte; design by David Pearson (Editions Zulma / April 2021)

Also designed by David Pearson:

The Plague by Albert Camus; design by Sunra Thompson (Knopf / November 2021)

The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz; design by Anne Twomey (Celadon Books / May 2021)

Rabbit Island by Elvira Navarro; design by Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / February 2021)

Gabriele Wilson talked about her cover design for Rabbit Island with Spine Magazine.

Gabriele Wilson is doing some lovely work for Two Lines Press:

Red Island House by Andrea Lee; design by Tristan Offit (Scribner / March 2021)

The Removed by Brandon Hobson; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Ecco / February 2021)

The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate; design Chelsea McGuckin (Atria / August 2021)

A Shock by Keith Ridgway; design by Nathan Burton (Picador / June 2021)

Summerwater by Sarah Moss; design by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2021)

Virtue by Hermione Hoby; design by Ben Denzer (Riverhead / July 2021)

This Weightless World by Adam Soto; design by Tyler Comrie (Astra House / November 2021)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:

Thank you to everyone who has supported the blog in 2021. It means a lot.

  1. I am not convinced that the term “postmodern” quite captures what I mean here (and/or worse, implies something different in the context of typography), but it’s the best I’ve got. I’m not talking about the kind of experimental typography you might associate with the likes of Wim Crouwel or Emigre, or the aesthetic of someone like David Carson. What I am trying to get at is idiosyncratic type that purposely exaggerates or plays with letterforms, and doesn’t conform to function-first modernism. To my mind, this would include some typefaces from the 1960s and 70s, as well as some more contemporary type. In a sense what I am describing is display faces — and I think the eclectic, innovative use of type in Victorian advertising might be an inspiration to designers here — but I don’t think it is just about size. ↩
  2. an alternative solution is what Australian designer John Durham, AKA Design by Committee, memorably referred to as the “lost dog poster school of cover design”. ↩
  3. I don’t want to jinx it, but are Canadian covers getting more adventurous? ↩
Comments closed
Published September 29, 2021

Book Covers of Note, September 2021

A big, messy post this month as I catch up on the new releases and some of the covers I missed over the summer. I expect the next couple of month’s might be a bit like this as I work towards my round-up of the year, so feel free to let me know about stuff that you think I’ve overlooked in 2021.

The Afghanistan Papers by Craig Whitlock; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / August 2021)

The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki; design by Gill Heeley (Canongate Books / September 2021)

A Calling for Charlie Barnes by Joshua Ferris; design by Gregg Kulick (Little Brown and Company / September 2021)

The China Room by Sunjeev Sahota; design by Tyler Comrie (Viking / July 2021)

Disorientation by Ian Williams; design by Lisa Jager (Random House Canada / September 2021)

The Hunter and the Old Woman by Pamela Korgemagi; design by Alysia Shewchuk (House of Anansi / August 2021)

King Richard by Michael Dobbs; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / May 2021)

Tyler Comrie also designed the cover of The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs. I like how the covers look related without looking the same.

Last Words on Earth by Javier Serena; design by Jack Smyth (Open Letter / September 2021)

Matrix by Lauren Groff; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / September 2021)

The cover of the UK edition was designed by Henry Petrides. He wrote about his process for SPINE.

Once More With Feeling by Sophie McCreesh; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Anchor Canada / August 2021)

Probably Ruby by Lisa Bird-Wilson; design Jennifer Griffiths (Doubleday Canada / August 2021)

The sweeps of paint brought to mind the snake on Anna Morrison‘s cover for the Pushkin Press edition of My Cat Yugoslavia from a couple of year’s ago…

Red Milk by Sjón; design by Natalie Chen; illustration by Owen Gent (Sceptre / May 2021)

The UK cover of CoDex 1962 by Sjón also features artwork by Owen Gent.

The Shimmering State by Meredith Westgate; design Chelsea McGuckin (Atria / August 2021)

Something Under the Sun by Alexandra Kleeman; design by Emma Pidsley (Fourth Estate / August 2021)

The cover of the US edition was designed by Donna Cheng.

Songs for the Flames by Juan Gabriel Vásquez; design by Alex Merto (Riverhead / August 2021)

Stranger to the Moon by Evelio Rosero; design by Janet Hansen (New Directions / September 2021)

For some reason, I was reminded of this saucy Jacob Covey cover, which I thought was killed in favour of something more (ahem) traditional, but it still exists on Amazon, so who knows? (Jacob probably knows; I do not).

The War for Gloria by Atticus Lish; design by Linda Huang (Knopf / September 2021)

1 Comment
Published October 28, 2020

Book Covers of Note, October 2020

As it is almost the end of October this is going to be my last monthly round-up for 2020. I will endeavour to put together a post on the book covers of year soon, but I am sure a lot of great work skimmed under my radar, so designers please drop me a line if I have missed a cover (or two!) you really loved working on (the book has to have been published this year), especially if it was for an independent or university press. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this month’s selections.

The Acrobats of Agra by Robin Scott-Elliot; design by Holly Ovenden (Everything with Words / October 2020)

The Age of Skin by Dubravka Ugresic; design by Jack Smyth (Open Letter / November 2020)

Always Brave Sometimes Kind by Katie Bickell; design by Tree Abraham (Touchwood Editions / September 2020)

Anger by Barbara H. Rosenwein; design by Alex Kirby (Yale University Press / July 2020)

Be My Guest by Priya Basil; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / November 2020)

Cesare by Jerome Charyn; design by Elsa Mathern (No Exit Press / November 2020)

Earthlings by Sayaka Murata; design by Luke Bird (Granta / September 2020)

Hitler and Stalin by Laurence Rees; design by David Pearson (Viking / October 2020)

The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada; design by Janet Hansen (New Directions / October 2020)

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher; design by Chelsea McGuckin (Saga Press / October 2020)

Infrastructures of the Apocalypse by Jessica Hurley; design by Matt Avery / Monograph Studio (University of Minnesota Press / October 2020)

The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E. Schwab; design by Will Staehle (Tor / October 2020)

Kreminology of Kisses by Barbara Bleiman; design Alex Kirby (Blue Door Press / November 2020)

They’re really not all that alike (it’s funny how memory constantly plays this trick on me), but the colour palette and the typographic approach of Alex’s cover reminded me Luke Bird’s 2017 cover for Vivek Shanbhag’s Ghachar Ghochar:

  • Ghachar Ghochar by Vivek Shanbhag; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / April 2017)

Leave the World Behind by Rumaan Alam; design by Sara Wood; art ‘Night Swimming’ by Jessica Brilli (Ecco / October 2020)

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow; design by Lisa Marie Pomilio (Redhook / October 2020)

Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark; design by Henry Sene Yee (Tor / October 2020)

Selected Poems of John Berryman edited by Philip Coleman and Calista McRae; design Jaya Miceli (Belknap Press / October 2020)

The Sun Collective by Charles Baxter; design Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / November 2020)

Talking Animals by Joni Murphy; design by Na Kim; photograph by KOEKKOEK (FSG / August 2020)

Tell Me Your Names and I Will Testify by Carolyn Holbrook; design by Kimberly Glyder (University of Minnesota Press / July 2020)

Watch Over Me by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Pippa Young (Dutton / September 2020)

Interestingly, two previous covers designed by Samira for Nina Lacour titles have featured illustrations by Adams Carvalho.

  • We Are Okay by Nina Lacour; design by Samira Iravani; illustration by Adams Carvalho (Dutton / February 2017)

Worked Over by Jamie K. McCallum; design by Chin-Yee Lai (Basic Books / September 2020)

1 Comment
Published July 23, 2020

Book Covers of Note, July 2020

And here we are… This month’s collection of book covers and occasional notes…

Antkind by Charlie Kaufman; design by Jack Smyth (Fourth Estate / July 2020)

The cover of the US edition of Antkind, published by Random House this month, was designed by Tyler Comrie.

In the Beggarly Style of Imitation by Jean Marc Ah-Sen; design by Charlotte Gray; photograph by Ally Schmaling (Nightwood Editions / April 2020)

(Because I am of a certain age, this cover immediately made me think of Lady Miss Kier and her shoes in the video for ‘Groove is in the Heart’)

Beyond the Sea by Paul Lynch; design by Janet Hansen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / March 2020)

The End of Everything by Katie Mack; design by Tom Etherington (Allen Lane / July 2020)

The Englishman by David Gilman; design by Ben Prior (Head of Zeus / July 2020)

Fraternity by Benjamin Nugent; design by Rodrigo Corral; lettering by Michael Schmelling (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / July 2020)

Lampedusa by Steven Price; design by Ami Smithson (Picador / February 2020)

Last One Out Shut Off the Lights by Stephanie Soileau; design by Lucy Kim; photograph by Marc St. Gil (Little Brown & Co / July 2020)

Maybe someone has done this before and I didn’t notice (or, more likely forgotten), but it’s great to see a photograph from the EPA’s remarkable DOCUMERICA Project — available through the US National Archives on Flickr — on a book cover.

Natural History by Carlos Fonseca; design by Pablo Delcan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / July 2020)

I love this cover. It reminded me Peter Mendelsund’s bonkers cover for C by Tom McCarthy:

On Nostalgia by David Berry; design by Raymond Biesinger (Coach House Books / July 2020)

The Party Upstairs by Lee Conell; design by Stephanie Ross (Penguin Press / July 2020)

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue; design by Sara Wood (Little Brown & Co / July 2020)

The cover of the UK edition, published this month by Picador, was designed by Ami Smithson:

Putin’s People by Catherine Belton; design by Chris Allen (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / June 2020)1

Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld; design by Jo Thomson (Doubleday / July 2020)

It’s interesting that the US cover of Rodham is essentially the same as the UK one. I would’ve thought for sure that they would take different approaches.

Sensation Machines by Adam Wilson; design by David Litman (Soho Press / July 2020)

1 Comment
Published May 27, 2020

Book Covers of Note, May 2020

A quick update this month. Enjoy…

The Book of Eels by Patrick Svensson; design by Grady McFerrin (Ecco / May 2020)

Broadway for Paul by Vincent Katz; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Beat Streuli (Knopf / April 2020)

Brown Album by Porochista Khakpour; design by Joan Wong (Vintage / May 2020)

This cover immediately reminded me of Helen Crawford-White’s cover A Half-Baked Idea by Olivia Potts published last year…

And then I thought maybe it was a nod to the cover of The White Album by Joan Didion, published in 1979 (the reissue below uses the original cover), and which Fonts in Use informs me uses the typeface Pistilli Roman. But maybe I am over thinking it…?

I was also reminded of these two recent covers, so maybe it is just a thing…?

A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet; design by David High (W. W. Norton / May 2020)

Lydian for Lydia…

The Decameron by Giovanni Boccaccio; design by Matthew Flute (McClelland & Stewart / April 2020)

I believe this is only available as an ebook, which seems a bit of shame. It would be nice to see in print. The cover does remind me of something else though. I can’t think what exactly. The best I could come up with was Tyler Comrie‘s cover for The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs. But I feel like there is cover that does something similar with a painting as a background? Possibly I’m just imagining it.

Oh and for those of you who are interested, the design team at Penguin Random House Canada have started posting their work to Instagram as one_last_tweak.

Fracture by André Neuman; design by June Park (Farrar Straus & Giroux / May 2020)

Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall; design by Lynn Buckley (Viking / February 2020)

Minor Detail by Adania Shibli; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / May 2020)

Out of the Shadows by Walt Odets; design by Tom Etherington; photograph by Wolfgang Tillmans (Penguin / May 2020)

I love this image. I believe it was used on the cover of the hardcover in the UK too.

Pelosi by Molly Ball; design by Adalis Martinez (Henry Holt & Co / May 2020)

Pew by Catherine Lacey; design by Luke Bird (Granta / May 2020)

Pew and Pelosi make lovely use of white space…

A Registry of My Passage Upon The Earth by Daniel Mason; design by Gregg Kulick (Little, Brown & Co / May 2020)

Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg; design by Linda Huang (Vintage / May 2020)

The cover of the hardcover was designed by Tyler Comrie, with an illustration by Justin Metz 

  • Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg; design by Tyler Comrie; illustration Justin Metz (Knopf / June)

Very Important People by Ashley Mears; design by Amanda Weiss (Princeton University Press / May 2020)

Walking One Step at a Time by Erling Kagge; design by Linda Huang and Oliver Munday (Vintage / April 2020)

This reminded me Gerhard Richter’s blurry landscape paintings.

The hardcover was designed by Jenny Carrow.

Wicked Enchantment by Wanda Coleman; design by Rachel Willey (Black Sparrow Press / April 2020)

1 Comment
Published December 11, 2019

Notable Book Covers of 2019

2019 has felt interminable. It has also felt like there are never enough hours in the day to keep up. You can’t talk to me about TV shows or movies. I haven’t seen any.

When it comes to books, I’m fortunate enough to work in the industry. But what hope do casual readers have of finding the good stuff when the same few titles dominate the conversation and there is so much else competing for their attention?

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood and Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid were inescapable this year.

  • Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid; design by Caroline Teagle Johnson (Ballantine / March 2019)
  • Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid; design by Lauren Wakefield (Hutchinson / March 2019)

Daisy Jones and the Six had a glamorous, louche 1970s look. The US and UK editions, designed by Caroline Teagle Johnson and Lauren Wakefield respectively, took slightly different directions with the type, but the photograph (a stock image apparently) felt ideally suited to social media.

  • The Testaments by Margaret Atwood; design by Noma Bar (Chatto & Windus / September 2019)
  • The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; art direction by Christopher Moisan; illustration by Patrik Svensson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / April 2017)

The Testaments was everywhere and, like the recent Vintage Classics reissue of The Handmaid’s Tale, the cover illustration was unmistakably by Noma Bar. We live in an age where every cult movie and TV show gets a ‘minimalist’ poster now, and I found that The Testaments looked too familiar for me to find it engaging. It didn’t help that the cover of the 2017 US reissue of the The Handmaid’s Tale by Swedish illustrator by Patrik Svenson had already featured a similar 3/4s silhouette. Nevertheless, it was perhaps a bolder cover choice than I’m giving it credit for. If nothing else, it showed that bright green on book covers — once cursed and reviled — is suddenly all the rage!

In terms of trends, 2019 felt more like a continuation of previous years rather than a break with the past. There was a kind of conservatism to a lot of the covers I saw. My sense was that highly polished designs that looked comfortingly familiar were being approved over riskier ones that stood out from the crowd. The most interesting covers often came from small publishers, especially New Directions who seem to be giving a bit more creative license to the designers they work with (some of whom have 9-5s at much bigger publishers!).

Big centred blocks of utilitarian white type over elaborate backgrounds continued to be a mainstay. It’s the book cover as poster, and it works at any size, so I don’t think it’s going away any time soon.

Handwriting and hand-lettering remained popular too, although my sense is that enthusiasm is starting to wane as publishers are opting for greater legibility and designers are turning back to vintage type styles to give a sense of authenticity and craft. (I’m willing to admit the evidence might not back me up on this, however!)

Fun, swishy 1970s-inspired serifs like Benguiat Caslon revival Cabernet are back. People keep trying to make ITC Avant Garde — another iconic 1970s typeface — happen again too. I don’t think it works for the most part, but I can see why designers think it’s cool in a coked-up New York way. Warren Chappell’s earnest calligraphic sans serif Lydian, originally released in 1938, continued its unlikely rise as a go-to literary typeface. It even got an explainer at Vox.

Black and white portrait photography has been the staple of biographies and classics for years, so it was interesting to see closely cropped black and white photographs used on the covers of a couple of new literary novels this year. This isn’t entirely new obviously. Black and white photography has long been used to signify that something is “art” (as opposed to, say, “pornography”). But I think the latest iteration of trend was started by Cardon Webb‘s 2015 cover for A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara which used a black and white photograph by the late Peter Hujar.

Coincidentally the cover of the US edition of Garth Greenwell’s new novel Cleanness, publishing early 2020, was designed by Thomas Colligan and uses contemporary black and white photograph by Jack Davison. (The UK edition, designed by Ami Smithson fits this trend a little less neatly, but features black and white photograph by Mark McKnight)

Something that I didn’t anticipate was the use of contemporary landscape and figure painting on the covers of some the big literary releases of the year. Like black and white photography, it felt almost pre-digital — a grasp at traditional values of craft. I don’t know if I would go as far as to say it is a rejection of post-modernism. But maybe it is? I don’t know. Discuss amongst yourselves.

  • The Innocents by Michael Crummey; design by Emily Mahon; art by Diana Dabinett (Doubleday / August 2019)
  • The World Doesn’t Require You by Rion Amilcar Scott; design by Laywan Kwan; art by Fahamu Pecou (Liveright / August 2019)
  • Inland by Téa Obrecht; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Tamara Ruiz (Random House / August 2019)

Thank you to all the designers and art directors who’ve been in touch and helped me identify covers for my posts. I’m sorry if I haven’t replied to your message. It’s been a year.

The Affairs of the Falcóns by Melissa Rivero; design Allison Saltzman; lettering Boyoun Kim (Ecco / April 2019)

Also designed by Allison Saltzman:

All the Lives We Ever Lived by Katharine Smyth; design by Michael Morris (Crown / January 2019)

Aug 9 —  Fog by Kathryn Scanlan; design by Na Kim (Farrar Straus & Giroux MCD / June 2019)

Also designed by Na Kim:

  • Lie With Me by Philippe Besson; design by Na Kim (Scribner / April 2019)
  • Mother Winter by Sophia Shalmiyev; design by Na Kim (Simon & Schuster / February 2019)
  • High School by Tegan & Sara; design by Na Kim (MCD / September 2019)

Baron Wenkheim’s Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai ; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / September 2019)

Berta Isla by Javier Marías; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / August 2019)

Also designed by Kelly Blair:

Big Bang by David Bowman; design by Jamie Keenan (Corsair / August 2019)

Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James; design Helen Yentus; art by Pablo Gerardo Camacho (Riverhead / February 2019)

Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant by Joel Golby; design by Linda Huang (Anchor / March 2019)

The cover of the UK edition, published by HarperCollins imprint Mudlark in February, was designed by Bill Bragg and is also very good:

The Case Against Reality by Donald Hoffman; design by Sarahmay Wilkinson (W. W. Norton / August 2019)

Also designed by Sarahmay Wilkinson:

Categorically Famous by Guy Davidson; design by Michel Vrana (Stanford University Press / June 2019)

Also designed by Michel Vrana:

The Colonel’s Wife by Rosa Liksom; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / December 2019)

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:

Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer; design Rodrigo Corral (MCD / December 2019)

Also designed by Rodrigo Corral:

Doxology by Nell Zink; design Jack Smyth (Fourth Estate / August 2019)

Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk; design by Alex Merto (Riverhead / August 2019)

Driving in Cars with Homeless Men by Kate Wisel; design Catherine Casalino (University of Pittsburgh Press / October 2019)

Also designed by Catherine Casalino:

The Dry Heart by Natalia Ginzburg; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / July 2019)

Also designed by Pablo Delcan:

The Dutch House by Ann Patchet; design by Robin Bilardello; painting by Noah Saterstrom (HarperCollins / September 2019)

Even That Wildest Hope by Seyward Goodhand; design by Megan Fildes (Invisible Books / September 2019)

The Factory by Hiroko Oyamada; design by Janet Hansen; photography by Arthur Woodcroft (New Directions / October 2019)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:

The Five by Hallie Rubenhold; design by Jo Thomson (Transworld / February 2019)

Follow Me To Ground by Sue Rainsford; design and illustration Beci Kelly (Transworld / August 2019)

Follow This Thread by Henry Eliot; design by Elena Giavaldi (Three Rivers Press / March 2019) 

Holy Lands by Amanda Sthers; design by Tree Abraham (Bloomsbury / January 2019)

Also designed by Tree Abraham:

Humiliation by Paulina Flores; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / November 2019)

Also designed by Nicole Caputo:

Indelible in the Hippocampus by Shelly Oria; design by Sunra Thompson (MacSweeney’s / September 2019)

Lanny by Max Porter; design by Jonny Pelham (Faber & Faber / March 2019)

Learning from the Germans by Susan Neiman; design by Tom Etherington (Allen Lane / August 2019)

Tom Etherington is also the designer of Penguin magazine The Happy Reader:

Life Support by Julia Copus; design by Helen Crawford-White (Head of Zeus / April 2019)

The Light That Failed by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / October 2019)

Malina by Ingeborg Bachman; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / June 2019)

Mind Fixers by Anne Harrington; design by Matt Dorfman (W.W. Norton / April 2019)

Mothers by Chris Power; design by Grace Han (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2019)

Also designed by Grace Han:

Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin; design by Stephen Brayda (Riverhead / January 2019)

Muscle by Alan Trotter; design by Gray318 (Faber & Faber / February 2019)

Also designed by Gray318:

Never a Lovely So Real by Colin Asher; design by Jonathan Bush (W. W. Norton / April 2019)

Not Working by Josh Cohen; design by Matthew Young (Granta / January 2019)

Also designed by Matthew Young:

One Day by Gene Weingarten; design by David Litman (Blue Rider / October 2019)

Also designed by David Litman:

Our Women on the Ground edited by Zahra Hankir; design by Rosie Palmer; hand lettering by Lily Jones (Harvill Secker / August 2019)

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / September 2019)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:

Safe Houses I Have Known by Steve Healey; design by Alban Fischer (Coffee House Press / September 2019)

Also designed by Alban Fischer:

Say Say Say by Lila Savage; design by Jennifer Carrow (Knopf / July 2019)

Sonnets to Orpheus by Rainer Maria Rilke; design by Anne Jordan & Mitch Goldstein (Open Letter Books / December 2019)

Sweet Days of Discipline by Fleur Jaeggy; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / August 2019)

Oliver Munday wrote about designing the cover for New Directions at Literary Hub earlier this year.

He also designed a lot my favourite covers this year…

  • Riots I Have Known by Ryan Chapman; design by Oliver Munday (Simon & Schuster / May 2019)
  • The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead; design by Oliver Munday (Doubleday / July 2019)
  • Thick by Tressie McMillan Cotton; design by Oliver Munday (The New Press / January 2019)
  • White Flights by Jess Row; design by Oliver Munday (Graywolf / August 2019)
  • Harbart by Nabarun Bhattacharya; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / June 2019) 

Turbulence by David Szalay; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner / July 2019)

The Unwanted by Michael Dobbs; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / April 2019)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:

  • The Revolutionaries by Joshua Furst; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / April 2019)
  • The Memory Police by Yoko Ogawa; design by Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / August 2019)
  • Someone Who Will Love You in All Your Damaged Glory by Raphael Bob-Waksberg; design by Tyler Comrie; illustration Justin Metz (Knopf / June)

The Volunteer by Salvatore Scibona; design by Rachel Willey (Penguin / March 2019)

Also designed by Rachel Willey:

  • The New Me by Halle Butler; design by Rachel Willey (Penguin / March 2019)
  • The Need by Helen Phillips; design Rachel Willey (Simon & Schuster / July 2019)

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates; design Greg Mollica; art Calida Garcia Rawles (One World / September 2019)

The White Death by Gabriel Urza; design by Joan Wong (Nouvella / June 2019)

A Year Without a Name by Cyrus Grace Dunham; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown & Co. / October 2019)

1 Comment