Peanuts, originally published on November 3, 1998.
(via the Schulz Museum)
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Published May 8, 2026
The Casual Optimist Posts
Published April 27, 2026
Book Covers of Note, April 2026
Hi. Hello. I hope you’re keeping safe and well. I’m getting this month’s post out at little earlier than usual (i.e. not the 11th hour), and on a Monday no less, because I’m going to be in NYC the rest of this week for work. Even though this is a little bit of a quick and dirty post, there are still lots of covers for you to peruse and admire. Apologies if I’ve missed anything obvious and/or spectacular. I will try to catch up next month.
American Fantasy by Emma Straub; lettering by Jessica Hische; art by Vi-An Nguyen (Riverhead / April 2026)
The Blood Year Daughter by G. G. Silverman; design by Luísa Dias (Creature Publishing / April 2026)
The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke; design by Will Staehle (Harper / April 2026)
Book covers on book covers on book covers… (I posted a whole bunch of variations on this theme back in 2024. It’s probably due an update)
Gilgamesh translated by Simon Armitage; design by Jaya Miceli (Liveright / April 2026)
It’s interesting to compare this cover to the one for the Yale University press edition translated by Sophus Helle from a couple of years ago designed by Jenny Volvovski:
Go-Between Girl by Andrea Gunraj; design by Talia Abramson (McClelland & Stewart / April 2026)
Haven by Ani Katz; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Penguin Books / March 2026)
Hexes of the Deadwood Forest by Agnieszka Szpila, translated by Scotia Gilroy; design by Linda Huang (Pantheon / April 2026)
Like This, But Funnier by Hallie Cantor; design and illustration by Rachel Willey (Simon & Schuster / April 2026)
Nice to see a new book cover from Rachel who is busy doing art directing things at the New York Times Magazine these days I believe!
My Lover, the Rabbi by Wayne Koestenbaum; design by Jack Smyth (Granta / March 2026)
If anyone at Granta reads the blog, I would love to chat to someone about getting the design credits for your covers on a regular basis.
And the (very different) cover of the US edition of My Lover, the Rabbi published by FSG Originals last month was designed by Evan Gaffney.
No Ghosts by Max Lury; design by Tom Etherington (Peninsula Press / April 2026)
No Way Home by T. C. Boyle; design by Emily Mahon (Liveright / April 2026)
The Oak and the Larch by Sophie Pinkham; design by Georgie Proctor; art by Masabikh Akhunov (William Collins / January 2026)
A bit late to this one, but the art (which I would guess is a linocut?) is really, really nice.
Odessa by Gabrielle Sher; design by Keith Hayes; cover art by Ben Turner (Little Brown and Company / April 2026)
On the Calculation of Volume (Book IV) by Solvej Balle, translated by Sophia Hersi Smith and Jennifer Russell; design by Matt Dorfman (New Directions / April 2026)
Here are the first four books side by side:
The Pain of Others by Miguel Ángel Hernández, translated by Adrian Nathan West; design by Jared Bartman (Other Press / April 2026)
Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh; design Dan Jackson; art by Jess Allen (Hamish Hamilton / April 2026)
The cover of the US edition of Permanence, published by Avid Reader Press this month was designed by Grace Han.
Ruins, Child by Giada Scodellaro; design by John Gall; art by Lorna Simpson (New Directions / April 2026)
Transcription by Ben Lerner; design by Violet Dine, Rodrigo Corral Studio (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / April 2026)
The cover of the UK edition of Transcription, published by Granta this month, was designed by Gray318.
Verb Your Enthusiasm by Sarah L. Kaufman; design by Daniele Roa (Particular Books / April 2026)
Visitations by Julia Alvarez; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / April 2026)
Wifehouse by Sonya Walger; design by Patrick Sullivan; art by John Worthington (Union Square & Co / April 2026)
I guess legs on covers are a thing this month?
Published March 25, 2026
Book Covers of Note, March 2026
Hey. It’s almost spring. Hang in there!
I took a long-planned week off in March, so this month’s post was somewhat cobbled together around that trip and somehow we’ve ended up with lots of great covers to show for it! I should take vacation more often! There’s some particularly fun typography, some nice illustration, and some of the usual weirdness. Enjoy!
The Beginning Comes After the End by Rebecca Solnit; design by Gray318 (Granta / March 2026)
Business Men as Lovers by Rosemary Tonks; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / March 2026)
Oliver Munday’s cover for The Bloater by Rosemary Tonks, also published by New Directions, was on my 2022 notable list…
Evil Genius by Claire Oshetsky; design by Vivian Lopez Rowe (Ecco / February 2026)
The Fountain by Casey Scieszka; design by Jack Smyth (Harper / March 2026)
Four Night Seas by Niamh Mac Cabe; design by Sarah Schulte (Lilliput Press / March 2026)
Gunk by Saba Sams; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / March 2026)
I feel like shiny 3D type might just be a thing this year.
Hotel Exile by Jane Rogoyska; design by Daniele Roa (Allen Lane / February 2026)
The Hour of the Wolf by Fatima Bhutto; design by Gray318 (Daunt Originals / February 2026)
I had a hell of time trying to remember what this reminded me of, I think it is Jeffery Alan Love‘s illustration for the cover of Wolves by author Simon Ings published by Gollancz way back in 2014.
Coincidentally, the cover of Wolves and other Simon Ings titles from Gollancz were among the ABCD Award winners in 2015, and if you’re interested in reading about this year’s ABCD awards, which took place earlier this month, Vyki Hendy has a write up at SPINE.
I Am Agatha by Nancy Foley; design by Clay Smith (Avid Reader Press / March 2026)
Monster Capital edited by Ra Page & David Sue; design by David Pearson (Comma Press / March 2026)
The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / March 2026)
Nothing Tastes as Good by Luke Dumas; design by Claire Sullivan (Atria / March 2026)
Now I Surrender by Álvaro Enrigue, translated by Natasha Wimmer; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / March 2026)
The cover of the UK edition of Now I Surrender published by Harvill Secker features art by Mexican illustrator Rodolfo Baquier. His art also features on the cover of You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue, which was one of my notable covers in 2024.
Pixie by Jill Dawson; design by Carmen R. Balit (Bloomsbury / March 2026)
Recession by Tyler Goodspeed; design by Steve Leard (Basic Books / March 2026)
Steve does love a black, white, and red colour palette for nonfiction!
A Scandal in Konigsberg by Christopher Clark; design by Stephanie Ross (Penguin Press / March 2026)
Seasons of Glass & Iron by Amal El-Mohtar; design by Spencer Fuller / Faceout Studio (Tordotcom Publishing / March 2026)
Sisters in Yellow by Mieko Kawakami, translated by Laurel Taylor & Hitomi Yoshio; design by Tiana Dunlop; art by Tetsuya Noda (Knopf / March 2026)
The Spoil by Maile Chapman; design by Vivian Lopez Rowe (Graywolf Press / March 2026)
The Truth of Carcosa by Jacob Rollinson; design by Rodrigo Corral Studio (Union Square & Co. / January 2026)
200 Monas by Jan Saenz; design by June Park (Little Brown & Co. / March 2026)
The lips trend has carried over from 2025!
Woman Alive by Susan Ertz; illustration by Tom Gauld (Manderley Press / March 2026)
I should probably do a post of Tom’s cover illustrations for other people’s books at some point. There must be a few now?
Wretch by Eric Larocca; design by Alicia Tatone (Saga Press / March 2026)
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Published February 26, 2026
Book Covers of Note, February 2026
Hey. I hope you’re keeping safe and well, especially my friends and colleagues in snowy NYC. Thanks to everyone who helped with images and design credits this month — it’s been a really busy month so I really appreciate it!
Angry Girls Will Get Us Through by Rebecca Traister; design by Sarah Creech; art by Adara Sánchez (Simon & Schuster BYR / February 2026)
And just ICYMI, my look back at some of last year’s young adult covers can be found here.
As If by Isabel Waidner; design by Richard Bravery (Hamish Hamilton / February 2026)
Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming by László Krasznahorkai, translated by Ottilie Mulzet; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / January 2026)
Here’s the full jacket:
And it probably makes more sense if you’ve seen the hardcover, also designed by O.O.P…
Brawler by Lauren Groff; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Vladimir Dunjic (Riverhead / February 2026)
Clutch by Emily Nemens; design by Beth Steidle; art by Wayne Thiebaud (Tin House / February 2026)
This reminded me of Alex Merto‘s cover for On Giving Up by Adam Phillips from a couple of years ago…
Crux by Gabriel Tallent; design by Chris Bentham (Fig Tree / February 2026)
This is the UK cover. The cover of the US edition of Crux designed by Jaya Miceli was in last month’s post.
The Disappearing Act by Maria Stepanova; translated by Sasha Dugdale; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / February 2026)
Eradication by Jonathan Miles; design by Oliver Munday (Doubleday / February 2026)
Oliver’s own novel, Head of Household, is out from Simon & Schuster in the US this month too. The cover was designed by Christopher Brand, and you can read a conversation between the two about the design process at LitHub.
Favorita by Michelle Steinbeck; translated by Jen Calleja; design by Henry Petrides (Faber & Faber / February 2026)
A Killing in Cannabis by Scott Eden; design by Giacomo Girardi / Rodrigo Corral Studio (Spiegel & Grau / February 2026)
Lithium by Malén Denis; translated by Laura Hatry & John Wronoski; design by Joan Wong (New Directions / February 2026)
Murder Bimbo by Rebecca Novack; design by Ben Wiseman (Avid Reader / February 2026)
The cover of the UK edition of Murder Bimbo published by Manilla Press was designed by Alex Kirby.
Playermakers by Michael Kimmel; design by David Litman (W.W. Norton / February 2026)
The Reservation by Rebecca Kauffman; design by Nicole Caputo (Counterpoint / February 2026)
It’s nice to see an author get consistency across their covers. I think the type is Tabular? Someone should do a Fonts in Use post!
Super Nintendo by Keza MacDonald; design by Jonathan Pelham (Guardian Faber Publishing / February 2026)
Technology and Barbarism by Michel Nieva; translated by Rahul Bery; design by Frances DiGiovanni / Rodrigo Corral Studio; art by Julien Gobled (Astra House / February 2026)
The cover of Nieva’s novel Dengue Boy also from Rodrigo Corral Studio was included in February 2025’s post.
Tell Me How You Eat by Amber Husain; design by Claire Sullivan (Washington Square Press / February 2026)
They by Helle Helle; translated by Martin Aitken; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / February 2026)
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Published January 29, 2026
Book Covers of Note, January 2026
Well, it’s been a month. I hope you’re all keeping safe and well, especially my friends and publishing colleagues in Minnesota. Stay Strong.
The Aquatics by Osvalde Lewat, translated by Maren Baudet-Lackner; design by Alban Fischer (Coffee House Press / December 2025)
As If by Magic by Edgard Telles Ribeiro, translated by Kim M Hastings & Margaret A Neves; design by Alban Fischer (Bellevue Literary Press / January 2026)
Yes, starting off the year with two covers designed by Alban, but also two books from nonprofit publishers based in Minneapolis, Coffee House Press and Bellevue Literary Press.
Crux by Gabriel Tallent; design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead / January 2026)
I do like how Jaya uses paintings on covers…
Galápagos by Fátima Vélez, translated by Hannah Kauders; design by Frances DiGiovanni / Rodrigo Corral Studio (Astra House / December 2025)
Half His Age by Jennette McCurdy; design by Arsh Raziuddin (Ballantine Books / January 2026)
The Hitch by Sara Levine; art and design by Amber Day (Roxane Gay Books / January 2026)
How to Commit a Postcolonial Murder by Nina McConigley; design by Joan Wong (Pantheon / January 2026)
The Infamous Gilberts by Angela Tomaski; design by Tristan Offit (Scribner / January 2026)
The Islands and the Stars by Subodhana Wijeyeratne; design by Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Stanford University Press / January 2026)
Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus and Giroux / January 2026)
One Sun Only by Camille Bordas; design by Sinem Erkas (Serpent’s Tail / January 2026)
The Rest of our Lives by Ben Markovits; design by Maddy Angstreich; art by Kento IIDA (Summit Books / December 2025)
Service by John Tottenham; design by Samantha Johnson; illustration by David Clark (Tuskar Rock / November 2025)
I am very late on this one (for which I apologise!), but who can resist a bookshop illustration?
Seven by Joanna Kavenna; design by Robbie Porter (Faber & Faber / January 2026)
Steppe by Oksana Vasyakina, translated by Elina Alter; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / January 2026)
Nicole’s cover for Wound by Oksana Vasyakina was on my notable list back in September 2023.
A Very Cold Winter by Fausta Cialente, translated by Julia Nelsen; design by Jared Bartman (Transit Books / January 2026)
Vigil by George Saunders; design by Giacomo Girardi / Rodrigo Corral Studio (Random House / January 2026)
When the Museum is Closed by Emi Yagi; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Seb Agresti (Soft Skull / January 2026)
This is a variation on the cover of the UK edition published Harvill Secker in July last year.
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Published January 13, 2026
Notable YA Covers of 2025
Happy New Year! I hope you’re keeping safe and well.
I just re-read the introduction to my 2024 YA post and it says pretty much everything I was going to say about young adult covers this time around too, which is a bit annoying! There are still plenty of great covers this year, but trends sometimes move slowly, and it does make me worry that these posts are getting a little stale and predictable.
As with the previous couple of years, almost all of my 2025 selections are illustrated. Looking at original cover art and discovering new illustrators is definitely one of the joys of collating these post. It does make me wonder though, if the illustrations are thing, should I broaden the scope of the posts to include other categories to freshen things up?
I can see both sides.
YA cover designers and illustrators do not get a lot of attention despite all the cover reveals and special deluxe editions (not to mention book sales). I have been doing YA specific lists because no one else has been.
That said, the lines between categories and age-groups are blurred. I actually had to delete a couple of covers from this post because they were for SFF novels that were not strictly YA. I couldn’t tell from the covers. I only realized when I looked up the details. It happened last year too. Including other age groups would allow me to include illustrated science fiction, fantasy, and romance covers that also tend to get overlooked outside of their fan communities. But it would probably mean a bit less YA.
What to do?
Thanks again for all your support over the past year. I hope your still enjoying the posts, but please let me know if you have thoughts or additional design credits. I’d love to hear from you.
After Life by Gayle Forman; design by Laura Mock; illustration by Agata Wierzbicka (Quill Tree Books / January 2025)
Always Be My Bibi by Priyanka Taslim; design by Sarah Creech; illustration by Shazleen Khan (Salaam Reads / June 2025)
And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyn Yun; design by Trisha Previte; cover art by Yejin Park (Knopf BYR / October 2025)
Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland, translated by Rosie Hedger; design by John Gall (Levine Querido / April 2025)
Before I realized that Beasts was actually a young adult novel, I included this in my round-up of last year’s adult covers. Now that I know that it’s a book for teens, I think it’s only appropriate to include here too in its proper context. It’s a great cover that stands out in both lists.
Break Wide the Sea by Sara Holland; design by Kerri Resnick and Anto Marr; illustration by Zach Meyer (Wednesday Books / November 2025)
The Corruption of Hollis Brown by K. Ancrum; design by Corina Lupp; art by Mishko (HarperCollins / April 2025)
A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo; design by Lily Steele; cover art by Riotbones (Peachtree Teen / October 2025)
The Floating World by Axie Oh; design by Rich Deas; art by Guweiz (Feiwel & Friends / April 2025)
A Girl Walks into the Forest by Madeleine Roux; design by David Curtis; art by Alex Eckman-Lawn (Quill Tree Books / June 2025)
The Girl You Know by Elle Gonzalez Rose; design by Amanda Hudson / Faceout Studio (Bloomsbury YA / February 2025)
Goodbye, My Princess by Fei Wo Si Cun, translated by Tianshu; design by Laurent Linn; illustration by Zijing (Simon & Schuster BYR / June 2025)
Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause; cover art by Welder Wings (Peachtree Teen / September 2025)
Hazelthorn by CG Drews; design by Meg Sayre; illustration by Jana Heidersdorf (Feiwel & Friends / October 2025)
The cover of Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews from the same creative pair was on last year’s list.
I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang; design by Alex Niit; cover art by Kim Myatt (HarperCollins / January 2025)
I Am the Swarm by Hayley Chewins; design by Sophie Erb; cover art by Aykut Aydoğdu (Viking BYR / March 2025)
I Can’t Even Think Straight by Dean Atta; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; illustration by Adriana Bellet (Quill Tree Books / May 2025)
If We Survive This by Racquel Marie; design by Abby Granata; illustration by Nicole Rifkin (Feiwel & Friends / June 2025)
In Case You Read This by Edward Underhill; design by David DeWitt; illustration by Jeff Östberg (Quill Tree Books / May 2025)
Kill Creatures by Rory Power; illustration by Kei-Ella Loewe; art direction by Liz Dresner (Delacorte Press / June 2025)
The cover of Wilder Girls by Rorie Power, designed by Regina Flath with art by Aykut Aydoğdu, was on my notable list way back in 2019.
Knucklehead by Tony Keith Jr.; design David Curtis (Quill Tree Books / February 2025)
Leave it on the Track by Margot Fisher cover art by Beatriz Ramo (Dutton BYR / November 2025)
Lies on the Serpent’s Tongue by Kate Pearsall; design by Jessica Jenkins; illustration by Imogen Oh (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR / January 2025)
This goes very nicely with their cover from a couple of year’s ago for Bittersweet in the Hollow by Kate Pearsall.
Mercy by Patricia Ward; design by Catherine Lee (HarperCollins / October 2025)
Messy by Tanya Boteju; design by David DeWitt; illustration by Jeff Östberg (Quill Tree Books / April 2025)
The Moss by Lisa Lueddecke; design by Sarah Creech; art by Yorgos Cotronis (Simon & Schuster BYR / September 2025)
Night Swimming by Aaron Starmer; cover art by Dana Lédl (Penguin Workshop / April 2025)
Nobody in Particular by Sophie Gonzales; design and illustration by Jenifer Prince (Wednesday Books / June 2025)
One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller; design by Casey Moses; cover art by Jon Stich (Levine Querido / May 2025)
Our Infinite Fates by Laura Steven; cover art by Kelly Chong (Penguin / February 2025)
This is the UK cover. The cover of the US edition published by Wednesday Books was designed by Olga Grlic.
The Payback Girls by Alex Travis; design by Aarushi Menon (Sourcebooks Fire / April 2025)
Season of Fear by Emily Cooper; design Jenny Kimura; illustration by Chris Mrozik (Christy Ottaviano Books / September 2025)
Shiny Happy People by Clay McLeod Chapman; design by Casey Moses; illustration by Elena Masci (Delacorte Press / November 2025)
Show Stopper by Lily Anderson; design and illustration by Keith Vlahakis (Henry Holt & Co. BYR / September 2025)
Summer Girls by Jennifer Dugan; design by Kelley Brady; illustration by Jeff Östberg (G.P. Putnam’s Sons BYR / May 2025)
I think this is the third Jennifer Dugan novel with Jeff Östberg‘s art on the cover?
They Bloom At Night by Trang Thanh Tran; design by John Candell; art by Elena Masci (Bloomsbury YA / March 2025)
The cover of She is a Haunting by Trang Thanh Tran, which also features art by Elena Masci, was included in my list in 2023.
The Wildest Things by Andrea Hannah; design by Olga Grlic; art by Marcela Boliva (Wednesday Books / February 2025)
Wish You Were Her by Elle McNicoll; design by Kerri Resnick; illustration by Marianna Tomaselli (Wednesday Books / August 2025)
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Leguin; design by Joe Merkel; art by Fred Fordham (Clarion Books / March 2025)
Woven From Clay by Jenny Birch; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Jorge Mascarenhas (Wednesday Books / August 2025)
You’ve Found Oliver by Dustin Thao; design by Theresa Evangelista; illustration by Zipcy (Dutton BYR / September 2025)
I believe this is third Dustin Thao novel with a cover illustration by Zipcy, although I think the previous two were designed by Kerri Resnick for Wednesday Books.
Published December 30, 2025
Luci Gutiérrez’s “Inside Story”
The cover of the New Yorker ‘s recent Cartoons & Puzzles issue by Luci Gutiérrez feels like an appropriate post to end the year on as I’ve basically been doing anything but work for the last couple of weeks.
Hopefully I will have a YA covers post for you in the next couple of weeks, but until then, Happy New Year!
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Published December 11, 2025
Notable Book Covers of 2025
Some of my favourite covers this year were series designs. I loved the Julio Cortázar Vintage Classics editions with covers illustrated by Stephen Smith, AKA Neasden Control Centre. I was lucky enough to meet art director Suzanne Dean for coffee when she visited Toronto this summer, which was lovely. Her Haruki Murakami designs for Vintage Classics and Harvill are always a delight too.
The typographic covers for the ‘Penguin Archive’ designed by Jim Stoddart triggered my curiosity. Published in April to celebrate 90 years of Penguin Books, the designs use typography to evoke the different eras of the publisher. You can read more about the series and the design process at Creative Review. But which historic Penguin covers inspired type choices in the first place?
There was some really nice series design from independent publishers this year too. I really liked Luísa Dias‘s covers for Wild Hunt Books’ Northern Weird Project. I wanted to feature them here when the final book of the series, Turbine 34 by Katherine Clements, came out last month, but time was not on my side. Fortunately, Zachary Petit talked to Luísa about the series for PRINT in April.
In Solvej Balle’s On the Calculation of Volume septology a women repeats the same day over and over again, and Matt Dorfman‘s covers for the New Direction editions are a really creative take on loops and repetition. The first two books came out last year and were featured in my October 2024 post so they’re not on this year’s list even though the third book was published in November. There are, however, two covers from a different Danish septology included below.
Anna Morrison‘s illustrations for Transit’s Undelivered Lectures series continue to be bold and inventive. The colour palettes always catch my eye. I like Jaya Nicely traditional-with-a-twist covers for Smith & Taylor Classics too. I thought Jenny Volvovski‘s designs for Open Letter’s Latvian translators titles did a lot with a little.
I’m sure I’m missing some others.
In terms of trends, Alban Fischer noticed that there have been a lot of close-ups of lips recently, something which I Need A Book Cover also picked up on.
Elizabeth Egan wrote about ‘The Book Cover Trend You’re Seeing Everywhere‘ for the New York Times. Epitomized by “blaringly bright type in a sans-serif font atop a painting,” Egan traces it back to Darren Haggar’s 2018 cover design for My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, and it feels like part of the wider “Instagram-friendly” approach that folks have been writing about for a while.
One strand of the ‘trend you’re seeing everywhere’ was paintings of women in various states of repose. There was a lot of elegant ennui and it almost felt like an art school version of well-dressed and distressed covers at times.
Another strand was historical paintings of animals, which fits with the “old-timey animals” covers Patrick Redford wrote about for Defector last year.
There was also a variation of old-timey animals that used white serif type for contrast.
I think the success of these covers largely depends on the image selection and the cleverness of the crop. I’m sure we will see more of them going forward, but doing it well is probably harder than it looks.
I don’t have a good name for this next trend, but in my mind I’ve been referring to this as “corner type” because of the way the text seems to turn the corners the cover. I guess what it is really doing is framing the central image. I don’t know if this is new, but I noticed it a lot this year.
I mentioned a wave of retro-nostalgic horror and suspense covers back in 2023 (I could’ve sworn it was last year until I checked!), but it feels like designers are still having fun with it as the genre as a whole gets more mainstream attention.
And speaking of nostalgia, I feel like covers inspired by 1980s advertising and airbrush art are suddenly a thing. There are a few examples from 2025, but it might be something we see more of next year as well.
Lastly, I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who supported the blog this year, especially the folks that helped out with cover images, credits, and corrections. I really appreciate you taking the time to reach out, and I’m sorry if you sent me a note and didn’t hear back. I try my best to read and reply to everything, but this is a one man show and sometimes life has other plans.
Happy Holidays!
All Consuming by Ruby Tandoh; design by Jared Bartman (Knopf / September 2025)
Also designed by Jared Bartman:
Alligator Tears by Edgar Gomez; design by Arsh Raziuddin (Crown / February 2025)
Also designed by Arsh Raziuddin:
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill; design and illustration by Elizabeth Story (Tachyon Books / September 2025)
Barbara by Joni Murphy; design by Frances DiGiovanni and Rodrigo Corral (Astra House / March 2025)
Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland, translated by Rosie Hedger; design by John Gall (Levine Querido / April 2025)
Also designed by John Gall:
Berlin Shuffle by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz; translated by Philip Boehm; design by Emily Mahar (Henry Holt & Co. / December 2025)
Beta Vulgaris by Margie Sarsfield; design by Joanne O’Neill (W. W. Norton / February 2025)
Big Chief by Jon Hickey; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / April 2025)
Also designed by David Litman:
Big Time by Jordan Prosser; design by Luke Bird (Dead Ink Books / September 2025)
Also designed by Luke Bird:
Black Genius by Tre Johnson; design by Dominique Jones (Dutton / July 2025)
The Book of George by Kate Greathead; design by Holly Battle (Atlantic Books / January 2025)
Blob by Maggie Su; design by Robin Bilardello (Harper / January 2025)
The Bridegroom Was a Dog by Yoko Tawada; cover illustration by David Plunkert (New Directions / November 2025)
Casanova 20 by Davey Davis; design by Victoria Maxfield (Catapult / December 2025)
The Director by Daniel Kehlmann, translated by Ross Benjamin; design by Andrew Smith (Riverrun / May 2025)
Dominion by Addie E. Citchens; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / August 2025)
The Eternal Dice by César Vallejo; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / April 2025)
Everything Must Go by Dorian Lynskey; design by Eli Mock (Pantheon / January 2025)
Also designed by Eli Mock:
Fake Muse by Max Besora; design by Alban Fischer (Open Letter / February 2025)
Flat Earth by Jade Levy; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / November 2025)
Fools for Love by Helen Schulman; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / July 2025)
Also designed by Janet Hansen:
Happy Bad by Delaney Nolan; design by Adriana Tonello (Astra House / October 2025)
How to Dodge a Cannonball by Dennard Dayle; design by Christopher Sergio (Henry Holt & Co. / June 2025)
The Idea of an Entire Life by Billy-Ray Belcourt; design by Kate Sinclair (McClelland & Stewart / September 2025)
I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan, translated by Jack Hargreaves; design by Rodrigo Corral; illustration by Klaus Kremmerz (Astra House / October 2025)
In Defence of Barbarism by Louisa Yousfi; design by Chantal Jahchan (Verso / January 2025)
I Remember by Joe Brainard; design by David Pearson (Daunt Books / July 2025)
The Island of Last Things by Emma Sloley; design by Keith Hayes; art by Jose David Morales (Flatiron Books / September 2025)
Killing Stella by Marlen Haushofer; design by Matt Dorfman (New Directions / July 2025)
Also designed by Matt Dorfman:
The Last Jewish Joke by Michel Wieviorka; design by David Drummond (Polity Press / September 2025)
Maggie, Or a Man and Woman Walk Into a Bar by Katie Yee; design by Grace Han (Summit Books / July 2025)
Also designed by Grace Han:
Make Your Way Home by Carrie R. Moore; design by Beth Steidle; art by Uzu Njoku (Tin House / July 2025)
Also designed by Beth Steidle:
Moderation by Elaine Castillo; design by Lynn Buckley (Viking / August 2025)
Money To Burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof; design by Matt Broughton; art Katrien de Blauwer (Jonathan Cape / February 2025)
Also designed by Matt Broughton:
The Novel and the Blank by Matthew P. Brown; design by Jenny Volvovski (Johns Hopkins University Press / August 2025)
On the Clock by Claire Baglin; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / March 2025)
Also designed by Erik Carter:
Emma Ramadan; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / August 2025)
The Pawn by Paco Cerdà; design by Emily Mahon (Deep Vellum / June 2025)
Portalmania by Debbie Urbanski; deisgn by Math Monahan (Simon & Schuster / May 2025)
Queen of Swords by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney; design by Jonathan Pelham (Two Lines Press / November 2025)
Root Rot by Saskia Nislow; design by Luísa Dias (Creature Publishing / March 2025)
Also designed by Luísa Dias:
Seduction Theory by Emily Adrian; design by Julianna Lee (Little Brown and Company / August 2025)
The Slip by Lucas Schaeffer; design by Jack Smyth (Simon & Schuster / June 2025)
Also designed by Jack Smyth:
Super Gay Poems by Stephanie Burt; design by Jaya Miceli (Harvard University Press / April 2025)
Also designed by Jaya Miceli:
There Is No Place For Us by Brian Goldstone; design by Anna Kochman (Crown / March 2025)
Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / October 2025)
Also designed by Oliver Munday:
Time and Chance by Katharine Coles; design by Joan Wong (Turtle Point Press / April 2025)
A Time Outside This Time by Amitava Kumar; design by Tom Etherington (Vintage / February 2025)
Also designed by Tom Etherington:
Too Soon by Betty Shamieh; design by Kimberly Glyder (Avid Reader Press / January 2025)
Also designed by Kimberly Glyder:
Two Truths and a Lie by Cory O’Brien; design by Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / March 2025)
Ultramarine by Mariette Navarro; design by Daniel Benneworth Gray (Deep Vellum / March 2025)
Also designed by Daniel Benneworth Gray:
Vampires at Sea by Lindsay Merbaum; design by Jaya Nicely (Creature / October 2025)
Also designed by Jaya Nicely:
Visions and Temptations by Harald Voetmann; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / August 2025)
Also designed by Jamie Keenan:
What Hunger by Catherine Dang; design by Maddy Angstreich; photograph by Bobby Doherty (Simon & Schuster / August 2025)
Also designed by Maddy Angstreich:
Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead Books / September 2025)
Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:
Published October 28, 2025
Book Covers of Note, October 2025
Hey, I hope you’re keeping safe and well wherever you are. Here are my latest book covers of note…
Big Kiss, Bye-Bye by Claire-Louise Bennett; design by Stephanie Ross; cover art by Maria Guimarães
The Bridegroom Was a Dog by Yoko Tawada; cover illustration by David Plunkert (New Directions / November 2025)
Casanova 20 by Davey Davis; design by Victoria Maxfield (Catapult / December 2025)
Don’t Burn Anyone at the Stake Today by Naomi Alderman; design Chris Bentham (Fig Tree / November 2025)
The Extremities! by Samantha Kimmey; design by Kimberly Glyder (University of Iowa Press / October 2025)
False War by Carlos Manuel Álvarez; design by Kimberly Glyder (Graywolf / October 2025)
Two back to back from Kimberly this month!
The Four Spent the Day Together by Chris Kraus; design by Alicia Tatone (Scribner / October 2025)
Happy Bad by Delaney Nolan; design by Adriana Tonello (Astra House / October 2025)
The Hole by Hye-Young Pyun, translated by Sora Kim-Russell; design by Beci Kelly (Doubleday / July 2025)
How Artists Make Money and How Money Makes Artists by David Berry; design by Raymond Biesinger (Coach House Books / October 2025)
The cover of On Nostalgia by David Berry also designed by Raymond Biesinger featured on the blog back in July 2020.
And Raymond Biesinger’s own book, 9 Times My Work Has Been Ripped Off, was also published by Drawn & Quarterly this month.
How Will Capitalism End? by Wolfgang Streeck; design by Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Verso / August 2025)
I Deliver Parcels in Beijing by Hu Anyan, translated by Jack Hargreaves; design by Rodrigo Corral; illustration by Klaus Kremmerz (Astra House / October 2025)
Jesus Christ Kinski by Benjamin Myers; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / October 2025)
Lucky Girl by Allie Tagle-Dokus; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / November 2025)
Minor Black Figures by Brandon Taylor; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / October 2025)
On Booze by F. Scott Fitzgerald; design by Marian Bantjes (New Directions / November 2025)
The Salvage by Anbara Salam; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / October 2025)
Sea Now by Eva Meijer, translated by Anne Thompson Melo; design by Jared Bartman (Two Lines Press / October 2025)
Sea, Poison by Caren Beilin; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / October 2025)
Sister Creatures by Laura Venita Green; design by Jaya Nicely; photograph by Laura Makabresku (Unnamed Press / October 2025)
Super-Frog Saves Tokyo by Haruki Murakami, translated by Jay Rubin; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Seb Agresti (Harvill / October 2025)
Things That Disappear by Jenny Erpenbeck; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / October 2025)
The Tragedy of True Crime by John J. Lennon; design by Henry Sene Yee (Celadon Books / September 2025)
This reminded me of the cover of There Is No Place For Us by Brian Goldstone designed by Anna Kochman for Crown, which featured in March’s post. I’m no Barnett Newman, I do like a bold stripe.
Unfit by Ariana Harwicz, translated by Jessie Mendez Sayer; design by Erik Carter (New Directions / October 2025)
Vampires at Sea by Lindsay Merbaum; design by Jaya Nicely (Creature / October 2025)
The Wax Child by Olga Ravn; design by Dan Jackson (Viking / November 2025)
The cover of the US edition of The Wax Child, published by New Directions at the end of September, was designed by Joan Wong.
Dan Jackson also designed a new cover for the paperback edition of The Employees by Olga Ravn out next month in the UK from Penguin, which weirdly kind of looks like a Joan Wong collage, but could also be part of a dismembered / disembodied limbs on covers trend? I’m struggling to think of too many examples off the top of my head. Alban Fischer‘s cover design for My Dreadful Body by Egana Djabbarova? But that’s not out until next year. I’m sure there are a couple of others out there. I will have a think on it.
What a Time to be Alive by Jenny Mustard; cover art by Shannon Cartier Lucy (Sceptre / April 2025)
I am very late to this one, but the art is fun and it kind of fits with recent trends so I didn’t want to leave it out. Let me know if there is a design credit to add.
Interestingly, Shannon Cartier Lucy’s art was also used on the cover of Worry by Alexandra Tanner designed by Alicia Tatone for Scribner from last year…
The White Hot by Quiara Alegría Hudes; design by Rodrigo Corral and Adriana Tonello; photograph by Lisa Sorgini (One World / November 2025)
The World After Rain by Canisia Lubrin; design by Jennifer Griffiths (McClelland & Stewart / October 2025)
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Published October 8, 2025
Physics for Cats: Science Cartoons by Tom Gauld
Tom Gauld has a new collection of his science-based cartoons for the New Scientist, Physics for Cats, out this week.
Tom talked to the New York Times about the previous collection, Department of Mind-Blowing Theories, in 2020.
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Published October 7, 2025
Slightly Spooky Tale of Fox and Mole by Cecilia Heikkilä
I don’t post a lot of picture books here, but seeing how it’s spooky season, I thought I would mention The Slightly Spooky Tale of Fox and Mole by Swedish illustrator Cecilia Heikkilä, published by Floris Books, which just landed on my desk at work. It’s an appropriately autumnal and windswept story about a dark and scuffling monster that emerges from the moor after Mole takes his friendship with his neighbour Fox for granted. As you can see below, the illustrations are wonderful and although things get a little scary in the middle, it all works out in the end.
Published September 30, 2025
Book Covers of Note, September 2025
Hey. I hope you’re keeping safe and well. I’m posting this late on the last day of the month, but hopefully it was worth waiting for.
I will let you get to the covers posthaste, but before I go, today (September 30th) is also Orange Shirt Day and National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, so I would like take a moment to acknowledge and remember the survivors of residential schools, their families and the kids who didn’t come home. <3
All Consuming by Ruby Tandoh; design by Jared Bartman (Knopf / September 2025)
At Last by Marisa Silver; design by Luísa Dias (Simon & Schuster / September 2025)
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill; design and illustration by Elizabeth Story (Tachyon Books / September 2025)
Awake by Jen Hatmaker; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Avid Reader Press / September 2025)
Big Time by Jordan Prosser; design by Luke Bird (Dead Ink Books / September 2025)
Beyond All Reasonable Doubt, Jesus is Alive! by Melissa Lozada-Oliva; design by Luísa Dias (Astra House / September 2025)
I love that we have two grungy / pulpy covers from Luísa Dias this month…
Chasing the Dark by Ben Machell; design by Ben Prior (Abacus / August 2025)
The Collected Stories by Cixin Liu; design by Jessie Price (Head of Zeus / September 2025)
This is holographic foil just in case it’s not obvious from the above (and if someone at Head of Zeus / Bloomsbury is reading and wants to fire me a better cover image that would be great!)
Discontent by Beatriz Serrano; design by Madeline Partner (Vintage / September 2025)
With this and the cover of The Dilemmas of Working Women designed by Sarah Kellogg (featured last month), we may have a new sub-genre of ‘well dressed and distressed’. Are there other examples?
Possibly a different kind of distress, the UK edition of Discontent, published last month by Harvill Secker, was designed by Kris Potter using a photograph by Laurent Tixador.
Dogs by C. Mallon; design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner / August 2025)
Facing Infinity by Jonas Enander; design by Anna Morrison (Atlantic Books / September 2025)
For the Sun After Long Nights by Fatemeh Jamalpour & Nilo Tabrizy; design by Linda Huang; illustration by Laura Acquaviva (Pantheon / September 2025)
Great Disasters by Grady Chambers; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / September 2025)
In the Green Heart by Richard Lloyd Parry; design by Julia Connolly; photograph by Albarran Cabrera (Jonathan Cape / August 2025)
The Hunger We Pass Down by Jen Sookfong Lee; design by Jennifer Griffiths (Erewhon Books / September 2025)
The Island of Last Things by Emma Sloley; design by Keith Hayes; art by Jose David Morales (Flatiron Books / September 2025)
The Last Jewish Joke by Michel Wieviorka; design by David Drummond (Polity Press / September 2025)
Letters in Exile by Claude McKay; design by Jenny Volvovski (Yale University Press / September 2025)
Moderation by Elaine Castillo; design by Lynn Buckley (Viking / August 2025)
The Shadow of the Mammoth by Fabio Morábito; design by Jared Bartman (Other Press / September 2025)
Is the “blob cut-out” a thing? I kind of thought it was but then I couldn’t think of any other examples except maybe this Paul Sahre / Erik Carter cover for The Lottery and Other Stories by Shirley Jackson from a few years ago, which is more of a collage really. Are they any other examples?
Swallows by Natsuo Kirino; design by Tyler Comrie (Knopf / September 2025)
The UK cover of Swallows published by Canongate last month was designed by Jack Smyth.
They All Came To Barneys by Gene Pressman; design by Colin Webber (Viking / September 2025)
Will There Ever Be Another You by Patricia Lockwood; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead Books / September 2025)
Lauren also designed the cover for No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, which was on my notable list back in 2021.
