Tag: abby weintraub

Book Covers of Note, April 2025

Published April 22, 2025

Book Covers of Note, April 2025

Hey, I hope you’re all keeping safe and well. Apologies for a slightly rushed post this month. It’s been kind of a busy time, and I’m travelling for work next week, so I’m sure I’ve missed a few covers and connections. I’ll try to catch up over the summer if/when things quieten down. Anyway… there are still lots of great covers in this month’s post — some from the usual suspects for sure, but also a few indies, a university press, a couple of covers from the UK and Ireland, and one from Canada…

Audition by Katie Kitamura; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / April 2025)

The cover of A Separation by Katie Kitamuria, designed by Jaya Miceli, was on my list of notable book covers back in 2017 (and featured on this list from 2020 that I’d forgotten I’d posted!)

Bad Nature by Ariel Courage; design by Emily Mahar (Henry Holt & Co. / April 2025)

Back in the Day by Oliver Lovrenski; design by Josie Staveley Taylor; photography by Valentin Fabre (Penguin Books / April 2025)

Barbara by Joni Murphy; design by Frances DiGiovanni and Rodrigo Corral (Astra House / March 2025)

If you missed it, Rodrigo Corral was recently profiled by Zachary Petit for Fast Company.

And, the cover of Animals by Joni Murphy, designed by Na Kim, was featured on my 2020 notable list. It’s an interesting contrast…

Big Chief by Jon Hickey; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / April 2025)

Crumb by Dan Nadel; design by Gregg Kulick (Scribner / April 2025)

The Eternal Dice by César Vallejo; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / April 2025)

The Fact Checker by Austin Kelley; cover illustration by Amber Day (Atlantic Monthly Press / April 2025)

Harriet Tubman in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen; design by Chelsea McGuckin (Galley Books / March 2025)

The Honditsch Cross by Ingeborg Bachmann; design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions / April 2025)

Peter Mendelsund also designed the cover of Malina by Ingeborg Bachmann for New Directions. It was on my notable list in 2019 (and on the aforementioned look back at the decade).

The Odyssey translated by Daniel Mendelsohn; design by Monograph (University of Chicago Press / April 2025)

I was reminded of Matt’s 2017 cover for David Ferry’s translations of the Aeneid from University of Chicago Press. It sticks in my mind at least partially for it’s use of Sandrine Nugue’s typeface Infini.

The Aeneid by Virgil (University of Chicago Press) Design by Matt Avery

Notes to John by Joan Didion; design John Gall; photograph by Annie Leibovitz (Knopf / April 2025)

The photo feels very appropriate given how Didion would probably have felt about this book being published.

Open, Heaven by Seán Hewitt; design by Sarah Schulte (Knopf / April 2025)

Open Up by Thomas Morris; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / April 2025)

The Pretender by Jo Harkin; design by Greg Heinimann (Bloomsbury / April 2025)

The cover of the US edition, published by Knopf this month, was designed by John Gall (the art is from Portrait of a Boy with a Falcon by 17th century Flemish painter Wallerant Vaillant, which is part of the Met’s collection in NYC if you’re curious)

This Room is Impossible to Eat by Nicol Hochholczerová; design by Matt Needle (Parthian Books / March 2025)

I love the bold movie-posterness of this design, but I also like to think it’s secretly the completes the cover for Mothers by Chris Power designed by Grace Han…

Small Ceremonies by Kyle Edwards; design by Kate Sinclair (McClelland & Stewart / April 2025)

This reminded me of another Grace Han cover, although the resemblance is similarly passing…

Florida by Lauren Groff; design by Grace Han (Riverhead / June 2018)

Super Gay Poems by Stephanie Burt; design by Jaya Miceli (Harvard University Press / April 2025)

Typefaces with dots are apparently a thing at the moment. The cover of Bad Friend by Tiffany Watt Smith from Faber, also out this month, uses type that has dots for counters too. Please let me know who the designer is and I’ll happily add the credit.

Tenterhoooks by Claire-Lise Kieffer; design by Jack Smyth (Banshee Press / February 2025)

Jack’s conversation with Steve Leard on the Cover Meeting podcast is really great if you haven’t listened to it yet.

Terrestrial by Joe Mungo Reed; design by Abby Weintraub (W.W. Norton / April 2025)

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Published May 27, 2022

Book Covers of Note, May 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

Illustration of brunette woman with wreath of flowers

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

The type is apparently Ohno Blazeface if you are curious.

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

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

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

I like the wobbly type.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A very Saul Bass / Vertigo vibe to this.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Apparently this is Jack Smyth month on the blog…

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

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

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

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

A speaking of pink and orange…

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

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

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Published October 7, 2015

Book Covers of Note October 2015

A little bit later than scheduled, here is my October selection of book covers. There are three from Verso, and two by James Paul Jones, but I think it’s still another month of interesting, diverse, and eclectic work. I hope you agree…

Anything You Want design Zoe Norvell

Anything You Want by Derek Sivers; design by Zoe Norvell (Portfolio / September 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)

Best American Non-Required design Eric Nyquist
The Best American Non-Required Reading 2015; cover art by Eric Nyquist (Mariner / October 2015 )

Black Earth by Timothy Snyder (US); design by Darren Haggar (Penguin Random House / September 2015)

Black Earth by Timothy Snyder (UK); design by Suzanne Dean; photograph Alex Majoli / picture research Lily Richards (The Bodley Head / September 2015)

The US cover, designed by Darren Haggar is on the left; the UK cover designed by Suzanne Dean is on the right.

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

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Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry by Paul Goldberger; design by Peter Mendelsund (Knopf / September 2015)

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

(I was raving about this cover on Twitter no so long ago. It really needs to be seen in person because the image doesn’t do it justice at all. The finish on the jacket is lovely and gives the design a beautiful nuance and subtlety)

Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff; design by Rodrigo Corral and Adalis Martinez (Riverhead / September 2015 )

Dream Factory design Jim Stoddart
The Great British Dream Factory by Dominic Sandbrook; design by Jim Stoddart (Allen Lane / October 2015)

Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine; cover art and design by Adrian Tomine (Drawn & Quarterly / October 2015)

Laurus design Gray318
Laurus by Eugene Vodolazkin; design Gray318 (Oneworld / October 2015)

Music mfor Wartime design Lynn Buckley
Music for Wartime by Rebecca Makkai; design by Lynn Buckley (Viking / June 2015)

Negroland design by Oliver Munday
Negroland by Margo Jefferson; design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon / September 2015)

Nest design Jon Klassen
The Nest by Kenneth Oppel; cover art by Jon Klassen (Simon & Schuster / October 2015 )

No Such Thing as a Free Gift design James Paul Jones
No Such Thing as a Free Gift by Linsey McGoey; design by James Paul Jones (Verso / October 2015)

Only Forward design Stuart Bache
Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith; design by Stuart Bache (HarperCollins / May 2015)

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)