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Book Covers of Note, March 2022

A short and sweet post this month.

Bless the Daughter Raised by a Voice in Her Head by Warsan Shire; design by Kishan Rajani; illustration by Natalie Osborne (Chatto & Windus / March 2022)

The black and white illustration and pink type reminded me of the US cover for Fight Night by Mirian Toews, designed by Patti Ratchford with an illustration by Christina Zimpel, from last year.

Booth by Karen Joy Fowler; design by Tal Goretsky (G.P. Putnam’s Sons / March 2022)

If you’d asked me to guess sight-unseen, I would’ve 100% said this was designed by someone else. It just goes to show that designers are talented, versatile people and I know nothing (NOTHING).

Checkout 19 by Claire-Louise Bennett; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Kristine Moran (Riverhead / March 2022)

Nice to feature a contemporary Canadian artist here.

The Doloriad by Missouri Williams; design by Luke Bird (Dead Ink / March 2022)

Further evidence that “big faces” are a thing?

The cover of the US edition of The Doloriad was designed by Thom Colligan.

A Guerrilla Guide to Refusal by Andrew Culp; design by Matt Avery / Monograph (University of Minnesota Press / March 2022)

Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield; design by Ami Smithson (Picador / March 2022)

Ami Smithson knocking it out of the park with this and the cover for New Animal by Ella Baxter featured in last month’s post.

Real Phonies and Genuine Fakes by Nicky Beer; design by Mary Austin Speaker; art by Dane Shue (Milkweed / March 2022)

The art feels like a perfect match here for the second half of the title.

Reptile Memoirs by Silje Ulstein; design by Carmen Balit (Grove Press UK / March 2022)

The cover of the US edition of Reptile Memoirs, which has more of a film noir feel, was designed by Michel Vrana:

Run and Hide by Pankaj Mishra; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / March 2022)

Shit Cassandra Saw by Gwen E. Kirby; design and illustration by Lydia Ortiz (Penguin Books / January 2022)

Unfinished Spirit by Rowena Kennedy-Epstein; design Henry Sene Yee (Cornell University Press / March 2022)

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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.

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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:

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.

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

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Book Covers of Note, June 2020

After Australia edited by Michael Mohammed Ahmad; design by Design by Committee (Affirm Press / May 2020)

A Burning by Megha Majumdar; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / June 2020)

The cover of the UK edition, which will not be published until 2021(!), was designed by Craig Fraser. It has a very vintage Faber feel… maybe it’s just the type?

The Dragons, the Giant, and the Women by Wayétu Moore; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / June 2020)

Inner Coast by Donovan Hohn; design by Sarahmay Wilkinson (W.W. Norton / June 2020)

The Margot Affair by Sanaë Lemoine; design by Elena Giavaldi (Hogarth / June 2020)

The Myth of the American Dream by D. L. Mayfield; design by David Fassett (IVP / May 2020)

News Parade by Jospeh Clark; design by Matt Avery (University of Minnesota Press / May 2020)

Night, Sleep, Death, the Stars by Joyce Carol Oates; design by Jamie Keenan (Fourth Estate / June 2020)

The cover of the US edition, published by Ecco, was designed by Sara Wood:

Nothing is Wrong and Here is Why by Alexandra Petri; design by Jim Tierney (W.W. Norton / June 2020)

(I really don’t know how I feel about this cover)

The Prettiest Star by Carter Sickels; design by Luke Bird (Hub City Press / May 2020)

Luke wrote about the design process behind the cover at Literary Hub.

Real Queer America by Samantha Allen; design by Lucy Kim (Back Bay Books / June 2020)

The Second Home by Christina Clancy; design Olga Grlic; art by Elizabeth Lennie (St. Martin’s Press / June 2020)

Set the Night on Fire by Mike Davis & Jon Wiener; design by Matt Dorfman (Verso / April 2020)

Soot by Dan Vyleta; design by Mark Swan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson / February 2020)

Soot is the sequel to Dan’s novel Smoke (which I liked a lot). The cover of the UK edition was also designed by Mark:

Surviving Autocracy by Masha Gessen; design by Jason Booher (Riverhead Books / June 2020)

This reminded me of the cover of the similarly themed American Manifesto by Bob Garfield, designed by Richard Ljoenes and published earlier this year by Counterpoint….

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / June 2020)

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Book Covers of Note, April 2020

Hey. Here are the book covers that have caught my eye online this month. I hope that they bring a little joy in this very grim time.

If you have the means to buy books at the moment (and I appreciate that is not going to be the case for everyone), please consider supporting your local bookstore. I know a lot of stores are taking orders by email even if they are not answering the phone, and many are offering local delivery if curbside pick-up is not currently an option. The situation seems to be changing daily, so if a store wasn’t accepting orders yesterday, they might be today. We are all figuring this out on the fly.

If you are in the US and don’t have access to a local bookstore, there is Bookshop.org who are trying to provide some financial support to independents. If there are similar initiatives elsewhere, let me know — I’m happy to share the link.

Afterlife by Julia Alvarez; design by Jaya Miceli (Algonquin Books / April 2020)

Barn 8 by Deb Olin Unferth; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / March 2020)

The Beauty of Your Face by Sahat Mustafah; design by Grace Han (W.W. Norton / April 2020)

Becoming George Orwell by John Rodden; design by Monograph / Matt Avery; illustration by Lauren Nassef (Princeton University Press / February 2020)

I wonder where the eye — particularly the combination of the colour red and the eye — as a symbol of Orwell and Nineteen Eighty-Four originated? Does it go back to the 1960s and the Penguin paperback designed by Germano Facetti?

I understand that the eye is a short-hand for the surveillance state. But it is almost as if that is now considered the only element of the book worth visualizing (David Pearson’s cover is in an interesting exception in that it cleverly focuses on censorship rather than surveillance).

I haven’t read Nineteen Eighty-Four in years, but my memory is that the infamous “Big Brother is Watching You” poster is a face whose eyes seem to follow you when you move — something I think Matt’s cover above captures quite nicely — not an all-seeing, omniscient eye. The first time I read the novel, I imagined Big Brother looked something like Lord Kitchener / Uncle Sam in the recruitment posters. I was more traumatized by Room 101 to be honest… Has anyone put rats on the cover of Nineteen Eighty-Four?

The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd; design by Sara Wood (Viking / April 2020)

Los Falcón by Melissa Rivero; design by Adalis Martinez (Vintage Espanol / April 2020)

The cover of the English-language US edition published by Ecco last year was designed by Allison Saltzman with lettering by Boyoun Kim.

Godshot by Chelsea Bieker; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / March 2020)

I actually read Godshot in manuscript form last year and liked it a lot. It is set in drought-stricken California, but I had Ry Cooder’s soundtrack to Paris, Texas playing in my head the whole time I was reading it.

I also wanted to give a quick shout-out to Nicole who was diagnosed with breast cancer at the end of last year and bravely shared her story on social media recently. Stay safe, and get well soon, Nicole. :-)

Grief by Svend Brinkmann; design by David A. Gee (Polity Press / April 2020)

David has designed the covers for a number of books by Svend Brinkmann, including Standpoints, which featured on the blog back in March 2018.

Hinton by Mark Blacklock; design by Jamie Keenan (Granta / April 2020)

Inkheart by Cornelia Funke; cover art by Karl J Mountford (Chicken House / April 2020)

Mountford has also created covers for the other two books in the series, Inkspell and Inkdeath. I love these.

A Luminous Republic by Andrés Barba; design by Mark R. Robinson; illustration by Carly Miller (Mariner Books / April 2020)

The cover of the UK edition of A Luminous Republic, which Granta is publishing in a couple of months, was designed by Luke Bird. It’s a really interesting contrast!

Misconduct of the Heart by Cordelia Strube; design by Michel Vrana (ECW Press / April 2020)

Sigh, Gone by Phuc Tran; design Henry Sene Yee (Flatiron Books / April 2020)

This is Shakespeare by Emma Smith; design by Linda Huang (Pantheon / March 2020)

Throat by Ellen van Neerven; by design by Design by Committee / Josh Durham (University of Queensland Press / April 2020)

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Book Covers of Note, October 2019

Oh hey, it’s October, AKA the best month of the year, so this is the last of my monthly cover round-ups for 2019. My look back at the year will be coming soon, so if I have shamefully overlooked your work for the past 10 months, or you want to share a cover design for a book that is coming out in November or December, now would be a really great time to drop me a line! High resolution images are always appreciated. This goes double if you design or illustrate YA covers. 1

All This Could Be Yours by Jami Attenberg; design by Catherine Casalino (Hougton Mifflin / October 2019)

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

This makes me think of the décollage art of folks like Mimmo Rotella.

The cover of the US edition published by Little, Brown was designed by Gregg Kulick and takes a different pop art approach…

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

The cover of the UK edition, out in January 2020 from Fourth Estate, was designed by Jo Walker with an illustration by Alycia Rainaud.

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

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

Feminist City: A Field Guide by Leslie Kern; design by Ingrid Paulson (Between the Lines / October 2019)

The flaps are fun…

Geometry of Shadows by Giorgio di Chirico; design by Atelier Bingo (Public Space Books / October 2019)

Ghosts of Berlin by Rudolph Herzog; design by Marina Drukman (Melville House / October 2019)

Gorgeous War by Tim Blackmore; design Michel Vrana (Wilfred Laurier University Press / October 2019)

The Grace Year by Kim Liggett; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration Hsiao Ron Cheng (Wednesday Books / October 2019)

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

I Hope You Get This Message by Farah Naz Rishi; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Adams Carvalho (HarperTeen / October 2019)

This makes a nice pair with the Adams Carvalho illustration on the cover of We Are the Lost and Found  mentioned last month

Nightmareland by Lex “Lonehood” Nover; design by Linet Huamán Velásquez (TarcherPerigee / October 2019)

Nothing To See Here by Kevin Wilson; design by Allison Saltzman; art by Christian Northeast (Ecco / October 2019)

Not Me by Marianne Dissard; design by Jamie Keenan (October 2019)

One of the more disturbing covers of the year I think…

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

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

Space Struck by Paige Lewis; design by Alban Fischer (Sarabande Books / October 2019)

Suspect Communities by Nicole Nguyen; design by Matt Avery (University of Minnesota Press / October 2019)

Redaction on covers is most definitely in…

The Topeka School by Ben Lerner; design by Rodrigo Corral (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / October 2019)

What Happened? by Hanif Kureishi; design Jonny Pelham (Faber & Faber / October 2019)

Are we seeing the beginnings of a psychedelia revival? There are a couple of covers coming in 2020 in addition to these three that make me think we might be…

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Book Covers of Note, June 2019

Apparently it is June already. I’m pretty sure it’s a terrible mistake. 

Here are your book covers of note.


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


Cogito by Victor Dixen; design by Jim Tierney (Collection R / May 2019)

This reminded me of something. I’m not sure exactly what. The best I could up with was Nicole Caputo‘s stripey op-art cover for Liveblog by Megan Boyle, but that’s not it at all… 


The Girl at the Door by Veronica Raimo; design by Julian Humphries (Fourth Estate / June 2019)


The Grand Dark by Richard Kadrey; design by Will Staehle (Harper Voyager / June 2019)


Lie With Me by Philippe Besson; design by Na Kim (Scribner / April 2019)


The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write by Gregory Orr; design by Jared Oriel (W.W. Norton / June 2019)


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


Norco ’80 by Peter Houlahan; design by Jaya Miceli (Counterpoint / June 2019)


November by Jorge Galán; design by Steve Leard (Little, Brown / June 2019)

I’m starting to detect a colour scheme at work here, Steve… ;-) 


On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong; design by Darren Haggar; photograph by Sam Contis (Penguin Press / June 2019)

Are we seeing a trend for close cropped photographs of… arms? (Don’t get me wrong, these are both beautiful photographs / covers.)

Also of note in a compare-and-contrast sort of way, the cover of the UK edition of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous published by Jonathan Cape was designed by Suzanne Dean:

 


Open Me by Lisa Locascio; design by Kelly Winton; collage by Katrien de Blauwer (Grove / June 2019)


Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn; design by Steve Attardo; handlettering by Sarahmay Wilkinson (Liveright / June 2019)


Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh; design by David Curtis (Tor / June 2019)


The Social Photo by Nathan Jurgenson; design by Pablo Delcan (Verso / May 2019)


The Sun On My Head by Geovani Martins; design by Clare Skeats (Faber & Faber / June 2019)


The Ungrateful Refugee by Dina Nayeri; design by Christopher Gale (Canongate / May 2019)


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

This reminds me (a little bit) of the Penguin English Library covers art directed by Coralie Bickford-Smith a few years ago:


William S. Burroughs and the Cult of Rock ‘n’ Roll by Casey Rae; design by Matt Avery (University of Texas Press / June 2019)

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2018 AU Presses Book, Jacket, & Journal Show

And the Sparrow Fell by Robert J. Mrazek (Cornell University Press); Design by Kimberly Gyder

The Association of University Presses recently announced the selections for their 2018 Book, Jacket, & Journal Show.

The show is the oldest continuous book design competition in the US, and I was lucky enough to join McSweeney’s designer Sunra Thompson in deciding this year’s cover selections. The book selections were made by designer Linda Secondari and writer Robert Bringhurst.  You can see all the selected entries — books and covers — in this AUPresses slideshow:

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Book Covers of Note March 2018

Lots to see this month, including several YA covers (which I know will please some regular readers), some ‘big’ literary fiction, and a couple of confrontational nonfiction covers to round it out. Enjoy!    


Aetherial Worlds by Tatyana Tolstaya; design by Stephanie Ross (Knopf / March 2018)


Beneath the Water by Sarah Painter; design by Emma Rogers (Lake Union / February 2018)

Although it pains me a little to say it, I think Amazon’s ‘book club’ imprint Lake Union are doing an impressive job commissioning appealing covers for their intended market. I would be interested to hear about the process from designers who’ve worked with them.   


The Birth of the RAF 1918 by Richard Overy; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / March 2018)

The type on this cover is ace. 


The Bleeds by Dimitri Nasrallah; design by David Drummond (Esplanade Books / February 2018) 


Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi; design Richard Deas (Henry Holt / March 2018)


Don’t Call Me Princess by Peggy Orenstein; design Robin Bilardello (Harper / February 2018)


Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi; design by Lizzy Bromley; illustration gg (Simon & Schuster / March 2018)


The End of American World Order by Amitav Acharya; design by David A. Gee (Polity / March 2018)

I feel like there are a lot of stars and stripes covers kicking around right now, but I like the ‘collapsing Venetian blind’ thing going on here.   


A Girl Like That by Tanaz Bhathena; design by Elizabeth H. Clark (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / March 2018)


Graffiti Palace by A.G. Lombardo; design Rodrigo Corral Studio (FSG x MCD / March 2018)


Gun Love by Jennifer Clement; design by Michael Morris (Hogarth / March 2018)

I like this cover very much–especially the type. The illustration and colour combination remind me of Matt Dorfman’s 2011 cover for The Pyschopath Test by Jon Ronson (Riverhead):


The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman; design by Nicole Caputo (Counterpoint / March 2018)

I read The Gunners earlier this year and it’s very good. Recommended if you enjoyed The Interestings by Meg Wolitzer.  


The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin; design Yeti Lambregts (Tinder / March 2018)

It’s interesting to see the UK publisher go in such a different direction from the US cover (designed and illustrated by Sandra Chiu) which, as I noted back in January, seems very on trend internationally to me.


In Every Moment We Are Still Alive by Tom Malmquist; design Marina Drukman (Melville House / January 2018)


In Full Flight by John Heminway; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / February 2018)


The Italian Teacher by Tom Rachman; design by Jaya Miceli (Viking / March 2018)

I felt like this cover might be a little too much when I first saw it online, but I bet it will look absolutely stunning in print and piled up on tables.    


I Wrote This Book Because I Love You by Tim Kreider; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / March 2018)

For reference, I have a pinboard of contemporary covers that make use of Lydian, the typeface used here. It was designed for American Type Founders by Warren Chappell in 1938, and it’s very distinctive (those ‘R’s!), so it’s interesting to me that it suddenly has this kind of cult popularity.   


The Largess of the Sea Maiden by Denis Johnson; design by Suzanne Dean (Jonathan Cape / February 2018)

The pencil shavings are delightful of course, but I did immediately think of Peter Mendelsund‘s covers for Leaving the Sea (2014) and The Flame Alphabet (2012) by Ben Marcus.  


The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo; design by Erin Fitzsimmons; illustration by Gabriel Moreno (Harper Teen / March 2018)

You can read about the design process for the Poet X cover on the Epic Reads blog.


Police: A Field Guide by David Correia and Tyler Wall; design by Matt Avery; illustration by Lauren Nassef (Verso / March 2018)

Can anyone tell me if there is a term for this kind of semi dust jacket? It seems like more than just a belly band. 

The upside-down ‘POLICE’ shield is an interesting decision. It gives the illustration a kind of authenticity (I assume it is based on an actual example), but it also subtly implies something about the contents of the book (as does the not so subtle decision to show a police officer in riot gear rather than more approachable attire!).      


The Sparsholt Affair by Alan Hollinghurst; design by Jenny Carrow (Knopf / March 2018)


Standpoints by Svend Brinkmann; design by David A. Gee (Polity / March 2018)

This is a bit like one Canadian designer called David doing an impression of the ‘other’ Canadian designer called David. Both of them are very idea-driven, and sometimes they do seem to think very alike! I believe they both worked in advertising before turning their attention to design. 


The Word for Woman is Wilderness by Abi Andrews; design by Steve Panton; illustration by Lizzy Stewart (Serpent’s Tail / February 2018)

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Book Covers of Note, September 2017

Here are September’s cover selections with a few extra covers from earlier in the year, just for good measure…


The Aeneid by Virgil, translated by David Ferry; design by Matt Avery (University of Chicago Press / September 2017)


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


And Your Daughters Shall Prophesy by Adrian Shirk; design by Jarrod Taylor (Counterpoint / September 2017)


The Beast by Alexander Starritt; design by Gray318 (Head of Zeus / September 2017)


A Book of Untruths by Miranda Doyle; design by Donna Payne (Faber & Faber / June 2017)

I really must do a post on crossings out on covers….


Can’t Stand Up For Falling Down by Allan Jones; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / August 2017)


The Change Room by Karen Connelly; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Random House Canada / April 2017)


Curry by Naben Ruthnum; illustration by Chloe Cushman; series design Ingrid Paulson (Coach House Books / August 2017)


Dark at the Crossing by Elliot Ackeman; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / January 2017)


Democracy and Its Crisis by A.C. Grayling design James Paul Jones (Oneworld / September 2017)


Do Not Bring Him Water by Caitlin Scarano; design by Zoe Norvell (Write Bloody / September 2017)


The Dying Detective by Leif GW Persson; design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon / May 2017)


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


Every Third Thought by Robert McCrum; design by Stuart Wilson; illustration Andrew Davidson (Picador / August 2017)


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


I Am Not A Brain by Markus Gabriel; design by David A. Gee (Polity Press / September 2017)


The Last London by Iain Sinclair; design by James Paul Jones (Oneworld / September 2017)


Mrs. Fletcher by Tom Perrotta; design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner / August 2017)


My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate / August 2017)

The cover of the US edition, published by Riverhead, was designed by Jaya Miceli:


New People by Danzy Senna; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / August 2017)


The People Are Going to Rise Like the Waters Upon Your Shore by Jared Yates Sexton; design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint / August 2017)


Postcards from the Edge by Carrie Fisher; design by Jack Smyth (Simon & Schuster / September 2017)


Ruth and Martin’s Album Club by Martin Fitzgerald; design by Dan Mogford (Unbound / September 2017)


Scarborough by Catherine Hernandez; design Oliver McPartlin; photograph Matthew Henry (Arsenal Pulp Press / May 2017)


The Talented Ribkins by Ladee Hubbard; design Marina Drukman (Melville House / August 2017)


To Die in Spring by Ralf Rothmann; design by Oliver Munday (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2017)


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


You Should Have Left by Daniel Kehlmann; design by Peter Mendelsund (Pantheon / June 2017)

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Something for the Weekend

An illustration by Pascal Blanchet, author of the charming White Rapids*, for the National Post’s Spring Books Quarterly.

Text Without Context An interesting article on reading and the web by Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times, which discusses books by David Shields, Jaron Lanier, Cass Sunstein, Farhad Manjoo and others (and yes, I appreciate the irony of me of linking an article about the fragmentary nature of reading online and only quoting one paragraph):

THESE NEW BOOKS share a concern with how digital media are reshaping our political and social landscape, molding art and entertainment, even affecting the methodology of scholarship and research. They examine the consequences of the fragmentation of data that the Web produces, as news articles, novels and record albums are broken down into bits and bytes; the growing emphasis on immediacy and real-time responses; the rising tide of data and information that permeates our lives; and the emphasis that blogging and partisan political Web sites place on subjectivity.

The Bkkeepr — Book Oven’s Hugh McGuire interviews James Bridle of BookTwo and Bookkake:

We can berate publishers for making what we think are bad decisions about digital, but to accuse them of cluelessness just inflates a very dangerous animosity. Publishers love books as much, if not more, than most readers. It’s one of the very few industries where this is true almost all the way up. And we should be working together for the best of all possible futures for books and authors and readers.

(And you can read Hugh’s response to the Michiko Kakutani article — which he takes issue with — here)

Route One — Sarah Weinman at Daily Finance looks at indie publishers experimenting subscription models that reach readers directly.

And finally…

Designer Matt Avery talks about his beautiful design for Chicago by Dominic Pacyga (University of Chicago Press) at Faceout Books.

* White Rapids is published by D+Q and distributed in Canada by my employer, Raincoast Books.

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