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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.

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.

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.

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:

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:

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:

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)

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:

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:

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:

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

Also designed by Luke Bird:

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:

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

Also designed by June Park:

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:

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

Also designed by Lauren Peter-Collaer:

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

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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)

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Book Covers of Note, March 2023

I hope you’re keeping safe and well. There’s quite a nice mix of covers this month (I think?). There’s some fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Some paperbacks and some hardcovers. Inevitably there are books from the big folks in NYC, but there’s also some indie titles, and a couple of covers from the UK. There is even some Canadian content for those of you who care about that sort of thing.1

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

Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett; design by Stephanie Ross (Riverhead / February 2023)

Does this qualify for the ‘well-dressed and distressed’ trend? Or is this more like an ‘everyone is tired’ thing?

The cover of the hardback edition of Checkout 19 published last year was designed by Jaya Miceli with art by Kristine Moran.

Commitment by Mona Simpson; design by Kelly Blair; art by Lee Heinen (Knopf / March 2023)

Crying Wolf by Eden Boudreau; design by Michel Vrana (Book*hug Press / March 2023)

The Flowers of Buffoonery by Osamu Dazai; design by Rodrigo Corral (New Directions / March 2023)

This is the third Rodrigo Corral cover for New Direction’s editions of Dazai. I’m curious — can anyone can tell me the typeface? UPDATE: it’s not a typeface, it’s lettering! Thanks to Erik at New Directions for letting me know (and for sending the final cover)!

Oh and if you’re curious about the enduring popularity of Dazai (who died in 1948), Andrew Martin wrote a piece about it for the the New York Times.

Halal Sex by Sheima Benembarek; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking Canada / March 2023)

Hospital by Han Song; design by Will Staehle (Amazon Crossing / March 2023)

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

The Natural Hustle by Eva H.D.; design by Talia Abramson (McClelland & Stewart / March 2023)

Now I Am Here by Childi Ebere; design by Lucy Scholes; illustration by Ben Wiseman; type by Matt Willey (Picador / March 2023)

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

Spilt Milk by Amy Beashel; design by Emma Rogers (HarperCollins / March 2023)

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

Can this start a dogs on book covers trend?

Trace Evidence by Charif Shanahan; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / March 2023)

If one of the fine folks at Tin House would like to send me a higher quality image, I’ll be glad to add it in! Thanks to the fine folks at Tin House for sending over the cover!

Voyager by Nona Fernández; design by Kapo Ng (Graywolf Press / February 2023)

The Woman with the Cure by Lynn Cullen; design by Vikki Chu (Berkley / February 2023)

Zig-Zag Boy by Tanya Frank; design by Emma Pidsley (William Collins / March 2023)

The cover of the US edition of Zig-Zag Boy, published by W. W. Norton this month, was designed by Alicia Tatone with art by Pedro Covo.

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Book Covers of Note, August 2022

I’m doing my best to catch up a little bit this month, but there’s no such thing as a quiet month in publishing any more. Just rest assured nobody knows what they’re doing — we’re just here for the chaos and romance…

Acceptance by Emi Nietfeld; design by Stephanie Ross (Penguin Press / August 2022)

As It Turns Out by Alice Sedgwick Wohl; design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2022)

And kudos to Alex for not putting the author or the title — or any text at all! — on the cover (and getting away with it)…

Brother Alive by Zain Khalid; design by Jo Walker (Grove Press UK / August 2022)

Brown Neon by Raquel Gutiérrez; design by Alban Fischer (Coffee House Press / June 2022)

Even the Darkest Night by Javier Cercas; design by Jack Smyth (Knopf / June 2022)

The Foghorn Echoes by Danny Ramadan; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking Canada / August 2022)

Kiki Man Ray by Mark Braude; design by Jaya Miceli (W.W. Norton / August 2022)

(Sorry about the image size — if anyone at Norton would like to send me a higher res version, I’ll be happy to update it!)

The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid; design by Ahlawat Gunjan (India Hamish Hamilton / August 2022)

You can listen to Ahlawat Gunjan talk about his life and work in this charming TEDx talk from 2020.

The typographic cover of the UK edition of The Last White Man, also published by Hamish Hamilton this month, was designed by Chris Bentham.

The Lovers by Paolo Cognetti; design by Etta Voorsanger-Brill (Harvill Secker / June 2022)

The cover of the US edition, published by HarperVia, was designed by Alicia Tatone:

Mother Noise by Cindy House design by Catherine Casalino (Scribner / May 2022)

Sharp Edges by Leah Mol; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Doubleday Canada / August 2022)

Till the Wheels Come Off by Brad Zeller; design by Alban Fischer (Coffee House Press / July 2022)

You can read about Alban’s process for this cover at Spine Magazine.

We Move by Gurnaik Johal; design by Jack Smyth (Serpent’s Tail / April 2022)

Pink and orange — and pink and orange combinations — are definitely a thing at the moment.

Whatever Happened to the C86 Kids? by Nige Tassell; design by Steve Leard (Bonnier Books / August 2022)

Yoga by Emmanuel Carrère; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2022)

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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.

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.

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.

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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?
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Book Covers of Note, October 2021

This will be the last of the monthly cover round-ups for 2021 because I have to turn my attention to the year as a whole, but there are some really top-notch covers in this month’s post so it feels like a good place leave off…

Anarchism and the Black Revolution by Lorenzo Kom’Boa Ervin; design by David Pearson (Pluto Press / October 2021)

Bewilderment by Richard Powers; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Random House Canada / October 2021)

Burntcoat by Sarah Hall; design by Jo Walker (Faber & Faber / October 2021)

Concepcion by Albert Samaha; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / October 2021)

Cultish by Amanda Montell; design by Joanne O’Neill (Harper Wave / June 2021)

Empty Wardrobes by Maria Judite de Carvalho, translated by Margaret Jull Costa; design Gabriele Wilson (Two Lines Press / October 2021)

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

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

The cover of the UK edition, publishing next year I believe, was designed by Jack Smyth:

Jacket Weather by Mike DeCapite; design by Michael Salu (Soft Skull / October 2021)

I was reminded of the cover of The Empty Chair by Bruce Wagner designed by Gregg Kulick from what seems like an age ago (2013 I think?) . It’s very possible I have been doing this for too long…

Machete by Tomás Q. Morín; design by Braulio Amado (Knopf / October 2021)

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

This seems like a reasonable excuse to post Peter Mendelsund’s cover designs for the two previous novels by Tom McCarthy…

The cover of the UK edition of The Making of Incarnation, published last month by Jonathan Cape, was designed by Mario de Meyer:

My Best Mistake by Terry O’Reilly; design by David Gee (HarperCollins Canada / October 2021)

North by Brad Kessler; design by David Drummond (Harry N. Abrams / October 2021)

Two Canadian designers doing the big magical sky thing to great effect!

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood by Quentin Tarantino; design by Joanne O’Neill; art by Paul Mann (Harper / November 2021)

Joanne O’Neill also designed the cover of the mass market paperback edition released earlier this year.

Orwell’s Roses by Rebecca Solnit; design by Gray318 (Viking / October 2021)

The Third Unconsciousness by Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi; design by Erik Carter (Verso / October 2021)

I love that the cover had to include “Bifo” in inverted commas.

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)

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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)

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Notable Book Covers of 2017

Since 2010, I’ve posted an annual survey of the year in book covers. The post has expanded and developed over the past 7 years, but essentially it is a collection of the covers published in the previous 12 months that I found interesting or noteworthy in some way. As with the previous couple of years, the 2017 list is organized by covers (alphabetical by title), and by designer so that I can show a greater variety of work, and no one designer or studio dominates. 

Thank you to everyone who has supported the blog this year, and special thanks to all the designers, art directors, authors, publishers, and fellow design enthusiasts who have helped me with covers and design credits. My sincere apologies to the designers and publishers not on this year’s list and whose covers I have overlooked in the past 12 months. 

A post looking back on the YA covers of 2017 is to follow.    


Adult Fantasy by Briohny Doyle design by Laura Thomas (Scribe / July 2017)



Age of Anger by Pankaj Mishra; design by Matthew Young (Allen Lane / February 2017)



The Age of Perpetual Light by Josh Weil; design by Nick Misani (Grove Press / September 2017)



All We Saw by Anne Michaels; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Jouke Bos (Knopf / October 2017)

Also designed by Janet Hansen:



Always Happy Hour by Mary Miller; design by Elena Giavaldi; art by Lee Price (Liveright / January 2017)

Also designed by Elena Giavaldi:



The Angry Chef by Anthony Warner; design by Steven Leard (Oneworld / June 2017)



Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou; design by Gray318 (Serpent’s Tail / April 2017)

Also designed by Gray318:



The Book of Disquiet by Fernando Pessoa; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / August 2017)

Also designed by Peter Mendelsund:



The Cutaway by Christina Kovac; design by Laywan Kwan (Atria / March 2017)

Also designed by Laywan Kwan:



Don’t Save Anything by Jame Salter; design by Zoe Norvell (Counterpoint / November 2017)



England Your England by George Orwell; design by David Pearson (Penguin Modern Classics / March 2017)

Also designed by David Pearson:



English Uprising by Paul Stocker; design by Jamie Keenan (Melville House / September 2017)

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:



The Experiment by Eric Lee; design by David A. Gee (Zed Books / September 2017)

Also designed by David Gee:



The Fall of Lisa Bellow by Susan Perabo; design by Alison Forner (Simon & Schuster / March 2017)



The Futures by Anna Pitoniak; design by Lauren Harms (Lee Boudreaux Books / January 2017)

Also designed by Lauren Harms:



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

Also designed by Luke Bird:



The Good People by Hannah Kent; design by Rachel Vale (Picador / February 2017)



The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood; art direction by Christopher Moisan; illustration by Patrik Svensson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt / April 2017)

This HMH cover was my favourite of the new editions of The Handmaid’s Tales, but Noma Bar’s cover for Vintage UK was also nice.



The Hearts of Men by Nickolas Butler; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / March 2017)

Also designed by Allison Saltzman: 



Heating & Cooling by Beth Ann Fennelly; design by Alex Merto; photograph by Gregory Reid (W.W. Norton / December 2017)

Also designed by Alex Merto:



Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / October 2017)

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:



Hollow by Owen Egerton; design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint / July 2017)

Also designed by Matt Dorfman:



How Will I Know You? by Jessic Treadway; design by Catherine Casalino; illustration by Henrietta Harris (Grand Central Publishing / August 2017)



I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell; design by Yeti Lambregts (Tinder Press / August 2017)

Also designed by Yeti Lambregts:



The Idiot by Elif Batuman; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Aino-Maija Metsola (Jonathan Cape / June 2017)

Also designed by Suzanne Dean:



The Idiot by Elif Batuman; design by Oliver Munday (Penguin / March 2017)

Also designed by Oliver Munday:



Insomniac Dreams: Experiments with Time by Vladimir Nabokov compiled and edited by Gennady Barabtarlo; design by Chris Ferrante (Princeton University Press / December 2017)

Also designed by Chris Ferrante:



Jerusalem Ablaze by Orlando Ortega-Medina; design by La Boca (Cloud Lodge Books / January 2017)

Also designed by La Boca: 



Jerzy by Jerome Charyn; design by Alban Fischer (Bellevue Literary Press / March 2017)



Little Deaths by Emma Flint; design by Justine Anweiler (Picador / January 2017)

Also designed by Justine Anweiler:



Lotus by Lijia Zhang; design by Adly Elewa (Henry Holt / January 2017)



Manly Health and Training by Walt Whitman; design by Richard Ljoenes (Regan Arts / February 2017)



Midlife: A Philosophical Guide by Kieran Setiya; design by Amanda Weiss (Princeton University Press / October 2017)



Narcissism for Beginners by Martine McDonagh; design by Tree Abraham (Unbound / March 2017)



Nicotine by Gregor Hens; design by John Gall (Other Press / January 2017)



One Day We’ll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul; design by C.S. Richardson (Doubleday Canada / March 2017)

Scott was also responsible for my favourite of the (many) Ninety Eighty-Four redesigns this season. 



The Parcel by Anosh Irani; design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe / September 2017)

Also designed by Allison Colpoys:



Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / May 2017)

Also designed by Rachel Willey:



A Separation by Katie Kitamura; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / February 2017)

Also designed by Jaya Miceli:



Sex & Rage by Eve Babitz; design by Kelly Winton (Counterpoint / July 2017)


Strange Heart Beating by Eli Goldstone; design by Jo Walker (Granta / May 2017)

Also designed by Jo Walker:



Swimmer Among the Stars by Kanishk Tharoor; design by Tyler Comrie (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / March 2017)

Also designed by Tyler Comrie:



The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner / March 2017)

Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:



Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash by Eka Kurniawan; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / August 2017)

Also designed by Erik Carter:



Virgin and Other Stories by April Ayers Lawson; design by James Paul Jones (Granta / January 2017)

Also designed by James Paul Jones: 



We All Love the Beautiful Girls by Joanne Proulx; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Viking / August 2017)

Also designed by Jennifer Griffiths:



Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / June 2017)

Also designed by Greg Heinimann:



Why Poetry by Matthew Zapruder; design by Sara Wood (Ecco / August 2017)

Also designed by Sara Wood:



Would Everybody Please Stop? by Jenny Allen; design by Na Kim (Sarah Crichton Books / June 2017)

Also designed by Na Kim:



The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / November 2017)

The cover of Sahre’s “graphic memoir” Two Dimensional Man is also great. 



Writing Not Writing by Tom Fisher; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (University of Iowa Press / July 2017)(University of Iowa Press / July 2017)

Also designed by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein:



The Zoo of the New edited by Nick Laird & Don Paterson; design by Richard Green (Particular Books / March 2017)

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Book Covers of Note, October 2017

I have steadily fallen further and further behind with my cover posts this year. There is some cracking work in this month’s round-up. But I can’t help feeling that there are some covers missing. Somehow it almost November, and I have run out of time. If I don’t post this now, I will never catch up! 


All We Saw by Anne Michaels; design by Janet Hansen; photograph by Jouke Bos (Knopf / October 2017)


Bloodprint by Ausma Zehanat Khan; design by Micaela Alcaino (Harpercollins / October 2017)


Crossings by Jon Kerstetter; design by Matt Dorfman (Random House / September 2017)


The Dead Husband Project by Sarah Meehan Sirk; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Anchor Canada / August 2017)


George & Lizzie by Nancy Pearl; design by Gray318 (Simon & Schuster / September 2017)

(Someone on Twitter recently asked about current book cover design trends. If I had to pick one out for 2017, it would be crossed-out words)


He Doesn’t Hurt People Anymore by Dane Swan; design by 13Jupiters (Dumagrad Books / October 2017)


Her Body and Other Parties by Carmen Maria Machado; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / October 2017)


I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez; design by Connie Gabbert (Knopf / October 2017)


Ma’am Darling by Craig Brown; design by Anna Morrison (Fourth Estate / September 2017)


My Ariel by Sina Queyras; design by Ingrid Paulson (Coach House Books / September 2017)


The Naturalist by Andrew Mayne; design by M.S. Corley (Thomas & Mercer / October 2017)


The Nowhere Girls by Amy Reed; design by Alex Robbins (Simon Pulse / October 2017)


Russia: A Short History by Abraham Ascher; design by Kishan Rajani (Oneworld / October 2017)


A Selfie As Big As the Ritz by Lara Williams; design by Janet Hansen; art by Nathan Manire (Flat Iron Books / October 2017)

Such great image selection from Janet on both these covers… and I love the restraint of the type. Beautiful stuff. 


Spectatorship edited by Roxanne Samer and William Whittington; design by  Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (University of Texas Press / October 2017)


Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash; design by Micaela Alcaino (Borough Press / September 2017)

The cover of the US edition of Stephen Floridadesigned by Karl Engebretson with an illustration by George Boorujy, was included in my June round-up.


This Accident of Being Lost by Leanne Betasamosake Simpson; by design Alysia Shewchuk; photograph of ‘Mixed Blessing’ by Rebecca Belmore by Toni Hafkenshied (House of Anansi /  April 2017)


The Whole Beautiful World by Melissa Kuipers; design by Tree Abraham (Brindle & Glass / October 2017)

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