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Book Covers of Note, June 2021

A little bit rushed again this month for various reasons (will I ever catch up? No. No I won’t…), but here are my cover picks for June…

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

The cover of the US edition of Animal, published by Simon & Schuster, was designed by Alison Forner and Zak Tebbal:

Fear and Trembling by Søren Kierkegaard; design Richard Ljoenes (Liveright / June 2021)

Folklorn by Angela Mi Young Hur; design by Helen Crawford-White (Erewhon Books / April 2021)

The Great Mistake by Jonathan Lee; design by Nathan Burton (Granta / June 2021)

The cover of the US edition, published by Knopf, was designed by none other than John Gall:

(The Knopf cover actually reminds me of this Lauren Peters-Collaer silhouette cover from a couple of years ago for Verso)

How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith; design by Lucy Kim (Little Brown and Company / June 2021)

Island by Siri Ranva Hjelm Jacobsen; design by Anna Morrison (Pushkin Press / June 2021)

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

The Ones We’re Meant To Find by Joan He; design Aurora Parlagreco; illustration Aykut Aydogdu (Roaring Brook Press / May 2021)

Pure Flame by Michelle Orange; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / June 2021)

In the ongoing game of books I think look alike but actually don’t when you put them side by side, the cover of Pure Flame brought to mind Peter Mendelsund‘s design for Civil Wars by David Armitage from a few years ago. Of course they don’t really look anything alike, but that’s how this game works…

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

A read an ARC of A Shock earlier this month and thought it was extraordinary. A recent review in the Observer described it a collection voyeuristic vignettes, which I suppose is accurate. The book is made up of interconnected and intimate stories, often about loneliness and confinement of one kind or another (particularly resonant during the pandemic). They are prying and unsettling… stories about seeing and been seen (or not). But in a wider sense, A Shock is about the telling and retelling stories (myths even!), and the way that is revealed in the novel itself is what elevates it above and beyond the usual fare. Anyway… I liked it. It won’t be for everyone.


The cover of the US edition, available from New Directions next month, was designed by the one and only Mr. Keenan:

Tokyo Redux by David Peace; design by Luke Bird (Faber & Faber / June 2021)

The War Against the BBC by Patrick Barwise and Peter York; design by Richard Green (Penguin / March 2021)

Who doesn’t love a really long subtitle and an all text cover?

With Teeth by Kristen Arnett; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / June 2021)

A Year Without a Name by Cyrus Dunham; design by Alex Merto (Back Bay Books / June 2021)

The hardcover of A Year Without a Name, released in 2019, was designed by Lucy Kim.

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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 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 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.

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:

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…

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

Also designed by Rachel Willey:

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)

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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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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 March 2017

Holy smokes! There are a lot of good covers this month! Feast your eyes on March’s book covers of note:


Amiable with Big Teeth by Claude McKay; cover art by Sean Qualls (Penguin / March 2017)


The Book of Greek and Roman Folktales, Legends & Myths edited and translated by William Hansen; design by Amanda Weiss (Princeton University Press / March 2017)


The Bridge Ladies by Betsy Lerner; design by Justine Anweiler (Pan Macmillan / March 2017)


A Conjuring of Light by V.E. Schwab; design by Will Staehle (Tor Books / February 2017)

This completes a distinctive set of covers for V.E. Schwab’s ‘Shades of Magic’ trilogy by Will Staehle: 


Dead Letters by Caite Dolan-Leach; design by Jaya Miceli (Random House / February 2017)


Dick Cheney Shot Me in the Face by Timothy O’Leary; design by David A. Gee (Unsolicited Press / February 2017)


Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon; design Alyssa Nassner; illustration Amanda Lanzone (Amulet Books / March 2017)


The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera; cover art by Dana Svobodova (Simon & Schuster / February 2017)


Eyes Wide Open by Isaac Lidsky; design by Zoe Norvell (Tarcher / March 2017)

And now two covers for Exit West by Mohsin Hamid — first the cover for the UK edition designed by Richard Bravery (Hamish Hamilton / March 2017):

And the cover of the US edition designed by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / March 2017):


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


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


Little Nothing by Marisa Silver; design by James Paul Jones (Oneworld / March 2017)

Rachel Willey’s cover design for the US edition of Little Nothing published by Blue Rider Press was part of my September 2016 round-up.


The Name of the Game is Kidnapping by Keigo Higashino; design by Janet Hansen (Vertical / February 2017)


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


Next Year for Sure by Zoey Leigh Peterson; design by Jaya Miceli; cover art by Jarek Puczel (Scribner / March 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)


One of the Boys by Daniel Magariel; design Thomas Colligan (Scribner / March 2017)


Optimists Die First by Susin Nielsen; design by Joan Wong (Wendy Lamb Books / February 2017)


Our Short History by Lauren Grodstein; design by Olga Grlic (Algonquin / March 2017)


Standard Hollywood Depravity by Adam Christopher; design by Will Staehle (Tor Books / March 2017)


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

I believe the cover of the UK edition, published next month by Pan Macmillan, was designed by Justine Anweiler:


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


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

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Notable Book Covers for 2015

Back in 2014, there were signs that book cover design was maybe, just maybe, having a moment. Suzanne Dean was on the BBC. Peter Mendelsund was on… well, everything. But if 2015 has felt a little quiet by comparison, there were still plenty of reasons to be cheerful. This year’s list includes over 120 covers by 60 designers, and there is little doubt in my mind that this really is a golden time for book design.

Thank you to all the art directors, designers, and publicists who have supported the blog this year, and who make posts like this possible. Thanks too, to my local bookstore TYPE for letting me browse their shelves.

Act of God design Janet Hansen
Act of God by Jill Ciment; design by Janet Hansen (Pantheon / March 2015 )

Also designed by Janet Hansen:


Almost Famous Women design by Na Kim
Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman; design by Na Kim (Scribner / July 2015)


angry-youth-comix
Angry Youth Comix by Johnny Ryan; design by Keeli McCarthy (Fantagraphics / February 2015)


Beatlebone design Rafi Romaya
Beatlebone by Kevin Barry; design by Rafi Romaya (Canongate / October 2015)


Beauty is a Wound design John Gall
Beauty is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan; design by John Gall (New Directions / September 2015)


boo-design-isabel-urbina-pena
Boo by Neil Smith; design by Isabel Urbina Peña (Vintage / May 2015)


Book of Numbers design Suzanne Dean cover illustration Carnovsky
Book of Numbers by Joshua Cohen; design by design Suzanne Dean; illustration Carnovsky (Harvill Secker / June 2015)

(Oliver Munday’s cover design for the US edition of the Book of Numbers published by Random House is also great.)

Also designed by Suzanne Dean:


boring-girls-design-david-gee
Boring Girls by Sara Taylor; design by David A. Gee (ECW Press  / April 2015)

Also designed by David A. Gee:


Bream Gives Me Hiccups design Jean Jullien
Bream Gives Me Hiccups design by Jean Jullien (Grove Atlantic / September 2015)


Capitalist Unconscious design Keetra Dean Dixon
The Capitalist Unconscious: Marx and Lacan by Samo Tomšič; design Keetra Dean Dixon (Verso / December 2015)


Complete Stories design by Paul Sahre
The Complete Stories by Clarice Lispector; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / August 2015)


curiosity design by Sonia Shannon
Curiosity by Alberto Manguel; design by Sonia Shannon (Yale University Press / March 2015)


Dismantling design Zoe Norvell
Dismantling by Brian DeLeeuw; design by Zoe Norvell (Plume / April 2015)

Also designed by Zoe Norvell:


Drinking in America Rex Bonomelli
Drinking in America by Susan Cheever; design by Rex Bonomelli (Twelve Books / October 2015)


Double Life of Liliane
The Double Life of Liliane by Lily Tuck; design by Abby Weintraub (Grove Atlantic / September 2015)


Early Stories of Truman Capote design David Pearson
Early Stories of Truman Capote; design by David Pearson (Penguin / November 2015)

Also designed by David Pearson:


Etta-front final
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper; design by Gray318 (Penguin / January 2015)

Also designed by Gray318:


Fear of Dying design Olga Grlic
Fear of Dying by Erica Jong; design by Olga Grlic (St. Martin’s Press / September 2015)


field-notes-from-a-catastrophe
Field Notes from a Catastrophe by Elizabeth Kolbert; design by Patti Ratchford; illustration by Eric Nyquist (Bloomsbury / February 2015)

Eric’s illustrated cover for The Best American Non-Required Reading 2015 is also spectacular.


First Book Amanda Weiss

The First Book by Jesse Zuba; design by Amanda Weiss (Princeton University Press / November 2015)

Also designed by Amanda Weiss:


fox and the star
The Fox and the Star, written, illustrated and designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Particular Books / August 2015)

Also designed by Coralie Bickford-Smith:


Generation design by Harriet Sleigh
Generation by Paula McGrath; design by Harriet Sleigh (JM Originals / July 2015)


hall-of-small-mammals
Hall of Small Mammals by Thomas Pierce; design by Grace Han; cover art by Kate Bergin (Riverhead / January 2015)


hausfrau
Hausfrau by Jill Alexander Essbaum; design by Gabrielle Bordwin (Random House / March 2015)


Hotels of North America design by Keith Hayes
Hotels of North America by Rick Moody; design by Keith Hayes (Little, Brown & Co. / November 2015)


how-to-run-a-government-design-barnbrook
How to Run a Government by Michael Barber; design by Barnbrook (Allen Lane / March 2015)


i-am-sorry
I Am Sorry to Think I Raised a Timid Son by Kent Russell; design by Peter Mendelsund; hand lettering by Janet Hansen; photography by George Baier IV (Knopf / March 2015)

Also designed by Peter Mendelsund:


italians
The Italians by John Hooper; design by Nicholas Misani (Viking / January 2015)

Also designed by Nick Misani:


kl-design-alex-merto
KL by Nikolaus Wachsmann; design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / April 2015)

Also designed by Alex Merto:


A Manual for Cleaning Women design
A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin; design by Justine Anweiler; photography Jonathan Simpson (Picador UK / September 2015)

Also designed by Justine Anweiler:


The Mare design by Oliver Munday
The Mare by Mary Gaitskill; design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon / November 2015)

Also designed by Oliver Munday:


Mislaid design by Allison Saltzman
Mislaid by Nell Zink; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / May 2015)


Modern Romance design by Jay Shaw photograph by ruvan wijesooriya
Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari; design by Jay Shaw; photograph by Ruvan Wijesooriya (Penguin / June 2015)


motorcycles ive loved design by rachel willey
Motorcycles I’ve Loved by Lily Brooks-Dalton; design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead / April 2015)

Also designed by Rachel Willey:


munich-airport
Munich Airport by Greg Baxter; design by Anne Twomey (Twelve Books / January 2015)


muse design by gabriele wilson
Muse by Jonathan Galassi; design by Gabriele Wilson (Knopf / June 2015)


musical-brain
The Musical Brain by César Aira; design by Rodrigo Corral and Zak Tebbal (New Directions / March 2015)

This is actually a rather special lenticular cover that imitates the effect of flashing neon.

Also from Rodrigo Corral:


Of-Beards-and-Men-design-Isaac-Tobin
Of Beards and Men by Christopher Oldstone-Moore; design Isaac Tobin (University of Chicago Press / December 2015)


9780691165073
One Day in the Life of the English Language by Frank L. Cioffi; design by Chris Ferrante (Princeton University Press / March 2015)


Only Street in Paris design by Strick&Williams
The Only Street in Paris by Elaine Schiolino; design by Strick&Williams (W.W. Norton / November 2015)

Also from Strick&Williams:


on-the-way-design-alban-fischer
On the Way by Cyn Vargas; design by Alban Fischer (Curbside Splendor / April 2015)

Also designed by Alban Fischer:


Paulina and Fran illustration Kaethe Butcher typography Nina LoSchiavo
Paulina and Fran by Rachel B. Glaser; illustration Kaethe Butcher; typography Nina LoSchiavo (Harper Perennial / September 2015)


PawPaw design by Kimberly Glyder
PawPaw by Andrew Moore; design by Kimberly Glyder (Chelsea Green / September 2015 )

Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:


poser
The Poser by Jacob Rubin; design by Will Staehle (Viking / March 2015)

Also designed by Will Staehle:


Pretty Is design Lucy Kim
Pretty Is by Maggie Mitchell; design by Lucy Kim (Henry Holt / July 2015)


Real Life Rock design by Rich Black
Real Life Rock by Greil Marcus; design by Rich Black (Yale University Press / October 2015)


Racism design by Daniel Gray
Racism by Mike Cole; design by Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Pluto Press / November 2015)


The Racer design by James Paul Jones
The Racer by David Millar; design by James Paul Jones; photograph by Nadav Kander (Yellow Jersey / October 2015)

Also designed by James Paul Jones:


Secret Chord Jaya Miceli
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks; design by Jaya Miceli (Viking / October 2015)


so-youve-been-publicly-shamed
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson; design by Matt Dorfman (Riverhead / March 2015)


sphinx design by Anna Zylicz
The Sphinx by Anne Garréta; design by Anna Zylicz (Deep Vellum / May 2015)

Also designed by Anna Zylicz:


Syriza design by Jamie Keenan
Syriza: Inside the Labyrinth by Kevin Ovenden; design by Jamie Keenan (Pluto Press / September 2015)

Also designed by Jamie Keenan:


Trans Design and illustration Joanna Walsh
Trans by Juliet Jacques; Design and illustration by Joanna Walsh (Verso / September 2015)


utopia-of-rules
The Utopia of Rules by David Graeber; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / February 2015)


Vegetarian design Tom Darracott
The Vegetarian by Han Kang; design by Tom Darracott (Portobello / January 2015)


Veiled Sun design by David Drummond
The Veiled Sun by Paul Schaffer; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press / January 2015)

Also designed by David Drummond:


weathering
Weathering by Lucy Wood; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / January 2015)

Also designed by Greg Heinimann:


9780241972762
Whisky Tango Foxtrot by David Shafer; design by Richard Bravery (Penguin / June 2015)

Richard’s white, black, and orange cover for London Overground by Iain Sinclair published by Hamish Hamilton is also fun.


woman-who-read-too-much-design-anne-jordan
The Woman Who Read Too Much by Bahiyyih Nakhjavani; design by Anne Jordan & Mitch Goldstein (Stanford University Press / April 2015)

Also designed by Anne Jordan & Mitch Goldstein:


why-information-grows-design-richard-green
Why Information Grows by Cesar Hidalgo; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / June 2015)

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Books Covers of Note January 2015

January’s selections include some of this month’s new releases plus a few stragglers from 2014 that were undeservedly overlooked last year:

against-the-country
Against the Country by Ben Metcalf; design and illustration by Leanne Shapton (Random House / January 2015)

bad-character-novel
A Bad Character by Deepti Kapoor; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / January 2015)

Brave New World
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley; design by Scot Bendall & Richard Carey / La Boca (Vintage / November 2014)

fifty-mice
Fifty Mice by Daniel Pyne; design by Alex Merto (Blue Rider Press / December 2014)

first-bad-man
The First Bad Man by Miranda July; design by Mike Mills (Scribner / January 2015)

91bGUNqrbPL._SL1500_
GB84 by David Peace; design by Christopher King (Melville House / November 2014)

hall-of-small-mammals
Hall of Small Mammals by Thomas Pierce; design by Grace Han; cover art by Kate Bergin (Riverhead / January 2015)

9781250052216
The Heart Does Not Grow Back by Fred Venturini; design by Henry Sene Yee (Picador / November 2014)

I-THINK-YOURE-TOTALLY-WRONG
I Think You’re Totally Wrong: A Quarrel by David Shields and Caleb Powell; design by Chip Kidd (Knopf / January 2015)

mermaids-in-paradise

Mermaids in Paradise by Lydia Millet; design by Chris Welch Design (W. W. Norton / November 2014)

9780241004968
Trouble in Paradise By Slavoj Žižek; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / November 2014)

unbecoming
Unbecoming by Rebecca Scherm; design by Paul Buckley (Viking / January 2015)

schafferzf
The Veiled Sun by Paul Schaffer; design by David Drummond (Véhicule Press / January 2015)

weathering
Weathering by Lucy Wood; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / January 2015)

X
X by Ilyasah Shabazz with Kekla Magoon; design by Matt Roeser (Candlewick Press / January 2015)

Comments closed

Book Covers of Note September 2014

It’s hard to believe it is already September, but here we are… time for another round of book covers!

If you’re new to this feature, each month I collect together new and recent covers that have caught my eye in the previous few weeks. Although the focus is on books released in the current month, the posts also include covers I’ve missed earlier in the year. You can find the previous month’s posts here.

Thanks (as always) to my local bookstores — Type Books on Queen West, Book City on the Danforth, and Indigo Bay & Bloor — for fighting the good fight (and their wonderful displays!).

9781568987262_cfl
Abbott Miller: Design and Content; design by Pentagram (Princeton Architectural Press / September 2014)

Polygraphe_Samuel Archibald
Arvida by Samuel Archibald; design by Catherine D’Amours / Pointbarre (Le Quartanier / August 2014)
Polygraphe_Samuel Archibald_mech
(this is an obvious miss from last month’s post about maps. Sorry Catherine!)

assassination-of-margaret-thatcher
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher by Hilary Mantel; design by Rodrigo Corral Design; photograph Demurez/Glasshouse (Henry Holt / September 2014)

9780374169046
The City Under the Skin by Geoff Nicholson; design by Oliver Munday; photograph by George Baier IV (FSG / June 2014)

(Another one that should have been in the maps post. And yes, that really is someone’s back apparently)

9781846147197
The Establishment by Owen Jones; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane / September 2014)

forensic-songs
Forensic Songs by Mike McCormack; design by Jason Booher (SOHO / July 2014)

god-telling-a-joke
God Telling a Joke by David Margoshes; design by David Drummond (Oolichan Books / May 2014)

Hack-Attack
Hack Attack by Nick Davies; design by David Drummond (Faber & Faber / August 2014)

herodotus
The Histories by Herodotus; design by Coralie Bickford-Smith (Penguin Classics / September 2014)

9780241970560
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison; design by JP King (Penguin / August 2014)

lippy-booher
Lippy by Bush Moukarzel; design by Jason Booher (Oberon Books / August 2014)

most-dangerous-animal
The Most Dangerous Animal of All by Gary L. Stewart with Susan Mustafa; design by Jarrod Taylor (HarperCollins / June 2014)

(I’m not endorsing the content of this book at all, but the red acetate cover does need to be seen in person to be fully appreciated)

smoke-gets-in
Smoke Gets in Your Eyes by Caitlin Doughty; design by David High / High Design (W. W. Norton / September 2014)

transcriptionist
The Transcriptionist by Amy Rowland; design by Keith Hayes (Algonquin Books / May 2014)

9780374292089
Wolf in White Van by John Darnielle; design by Timothy Goodman (FSG / September 2014)

wittgenstein-jr
Wittgenstein Jr by Lars Iyers; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House / September 2014)

you
You by Zoran Drvenkar; design by Kelly Blair (Knopf / August 2014)

2 Comments

Getting to the Point: Arrows in Book Cover Design

arrows
As I was collecting images for my recent posts on triangles and book covers, I started thinking about the use of triangle’s directional cousin, the arrow. Inspired by a vintage cover design by Elaine Lustig and Jay Maisel, I thought I’d gather a selection of recent book covers that use arrows as part of their design.

I’ve spent far too long on this already, but I am sure I have forgotten some corkers. Please let me know what I’ve missed in the comments. I also have to say thanks to all the designers who helped me with this, especially Catherine Casalino, Richard Green, and (the very patient) Jason Ramirez who all dug deep into their archives for me.


The Accidental Universe by Alan Lightman; design by Pablo Delcán (Pantheon January 2014)

Act-of-Love
The Act of Love by Howard Jacobson; design by Catherine Casalino (Simon & Schuster March 2009)

orgasmatron
Adventures in the Orgasmatron by Christopher Turner; design by Marina Drukman (Farrar, Straus & Giroux June 2011)

anti-fragile
Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb; design by Jamie Keenan (Random House November 2012)

arc-of-war
The Arc of War by Jack S. Levy & William R. Thompson; design by Isaac Tobin (University of Chicago Press October 2011)

arrow-of-god
Arrow of God by Chinua Achebe;  art by Edel Rodriguez (Penguin January 2010)

9781250002495
The Bug by Ellen Ullman; design by Jamie Keenan (Picador February 2012)

Buried-on-Avenue
Buried on Avenue B by Peter de Jonge; design by Ian Koviak / The Book Designers (HarperCollins October 2012)

Busted
Busted by Edmund L. Andrews; design by Gray318 (W. W. Norton July 2009)

caribou-island
Caribou Island by David Vann; design by Nathan Burton (Viking February 2011)

dealmaking
Dealmaking by Guhan Subramanian; design by Ben Wiseman (W. W. Norton October 2011)

debt-delusion
The Debt Delusion by Mehdi Hasan; design by James Paul Jones (Vintage Digital July 2011)

enchanted-wanderer
The Enchanted Wanderer by Nikolai Leskov; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf March 2013)


Six Easy Pieces by Richard P. Feynman (Penguin July 2011)

The Meaning of it All by Richard P. Feynman (Penguin September 2007)

Design by Jim Stoddart; model design & construction by Andy Bridge


Give Me Everything You Have by James Lasdun; design by Julia Connolly (Vintage February 2014)

how-we-got-to-now
How We Got to Now by Steven Johnson; design by David A. Gee (Riverhead September 2014)

Hush Hush cover art 1
Hush Hush by Steven Barthelme; design by Christopher Brian King (Melville House October 2012)

one-on-one
One on One by Craig Brown; design by Jo Walker (Fourth Estate September 2011)

9780374146689
Paris, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down by Rosecrans Baldwin; design by Rodrigo Corral Design (Farrar, Straus & Giroux April 2012)

9781780742458
The Particle at the End of the Universe by Sean Carroll;  design by Shepherd Studio (Oneworld May 2013)1

borges
The Perpetual Race of Achilles and the Tortoise by Jorge Luis Borges; design by We Made This (Penguin August 2010)

rebound_final
Rebound by Stephen J. Rose; design by Jason Ramirez (St. Martin’s Press May 2010)

rise-and-fall
The Rise & Fall of the Great Powers by Tom Rachman; design by Roberto de Vicq de Cumptich (Dial June 2014)

survivor
Survivor by Chuck Palahniuk; design by Rodrigo Corral Design (W. W. Norton April 2010)


Dwight Yoakam by Don McLeese (Texas Tech University Press April 2012)

If I Was a Highway by Michael Ventura and Butch Hancock (Texas Tech University Press Feb 2011)

Design by Lindsay Starr

warlord
Warlord by Carlo d’Este; design by Richard Green (Allen Lane April 2009)

4 Comments