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Book Covers of Note, March 2026
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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Book Covers of Note, October 2025
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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Book Covers of Note, July 2024
Published July 26, 2024

Book Covers of Note, July 2024

I wonder what it is like to live in uninteresting — boring, even — times? It must be nice. While I continue to ponder that, here are this month’s book covers….

The Alternatives by Caoilinn Hughes; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / April 2024)

Back to the Local by Maurice Gorham; design by Pete Adlington (Faber & Faber / June 2024)

Pete talks about the book and his process designing the cover for the Faber Journal.

Festival & Game of the Worlds by César Aira; design by Tyler Comrie (New Directions / July 2024)

The Horse by Willy Vlautin; design by Milan Božić (HarperCollins / July 2024)

Kicking Off Around the World by Ramon Usall; design by Steve Leard (Pluto Press / June 2024)

If I was good at blogging I would have posted this last month when the book was actually published and before the finals of Euros and Copa America, but here we are. Better late than never I guess, and politics never goes out of sport however much some people pretend they are unconnected. (I’m still thinking about doing a post of covers from books about sport, but haven’t got any further than that. Again, if I was actually smart and organized, I would have had it done in time for the Olympics. Cover suggestions still welcome by the way!).

Anyway… The author’s surname and the book’s subtitle were actually printed on to the shirt for the cover and Steve made or bought actual buttons to decorate it. He kindly sent over these shots of the work in progress…

Liars by Sarah Manguso; design by Cassie Gonzalez (Hogarth Press / July 2024)

(If anyone in the UK can tell me who designed the red and green cover of Liars for Pan Macmillan — and send me a hi-res cover image! — I would to love to include it next month’s list when it’s released)

Little Rot by Akwaeje Emezi; design by Kishan Rajani (Faber & Faber / July 2024)

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner; design by Tyler Comrie (Random House / July 2024)

The cover of Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s previous novel Fleishman is in Trouble was designed by Kelly Blair. I feel like these work together despite being quite different? Maybe it’s as simple as the combination of really big type for the title and handwriting of “a novel”?

Neu Klang by Christoph Dallach; design by Jack Smyth (Faber & Faber / May 2024)

This is out in the US/Canada next month.

Paul Celan and the Trans-Tibetan Angel by Yoko Tawada; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / July 2024)

Rangikura by Tayi Tibble; design by Linda Huang; illustration by Simone Noronha (Knopf / April 2024)

The same team created the cover of Tayi Tibble’s previous poetry collection Poūkahangatus, which was included way back in September 2022’s post.

The Road to the Salt Sea by Samuel Kọláwọlé; design Alicia Tatone (Amistad Books / July 2024)

(Thanks to Alicia and AD Stephen Brayda for sending over the cover)

Steak by Tim Hayward; design by Luke Bird (Quadrille / May 2024)

I am late to this one, but it is very good (in my defence, it only came out in the US/Canada last month).

They Dream in Gold by Mai Sennaar; design by Vivian Lopez Rowe (Zando / July 2024)

Tripping on Utopia by Benjamin Breen; design by Tyler Comrie (Grand Central / January 2024)

I don’t who decided July is Tyler Comrie month (me, apparently), but it seems that way…

Trouble in Censorville by Nadine M. Kalin and Rebekah Modrak; design by Ben Denzer (Disobedience Press / July 2024)

Whoever You Are, Honey by Olivia Gatwood; design by Jaya Miceli; art by Steven Wilson (Dial Press / July 2024)

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Book Covers of Note, June 2024
Published June 27, 2024

Book Covers of Note, June 2024

Hey everyone. I hope you keeping well. It’s another big post this month. There are lots of new covers, but also quite a few that I missed (or didn’t have the design credit for!) from earlier this year too. I expect that’ll keep happening over the next couple of posts as I try to catch up over the summer, so feel free to send me stuff I might have overlooked. Now is the time!

The Abyss by Fernando Vallejo; design by Janet Hansen (New Directions / June 2024)

Ask Me Again by Clare Sestanovich; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / June 2024)

A Janet Hansen one-two to open proceedings…

Blessings by Chukwuebuka Ibeh; design by John Fontana; painting by Tosin Olusegun Kalejaye (Doubleday / June 2024)

The cover of the UK edition published by Penguin earlier this year, designed by Richard Bravery (I think?), uses the same painting by Tosin Kalejaye but it’s interesting to see the differences in the approach side by side.

The Borrowed Hills by Scott Preston; design by Jaya Miceli (Scribner / June 2024)

Another example of the US and the UK cover sharing the same image but with differing approaches. I like the type and the retro poster vibe of the UK cover a lot. I don’t have the design credit though so please drop me a note if you know whose work it is and I’ll add it in!

Brat by Gabriel Smith; design by Stephanie Ross (Penguin Press / June 2024)

Cue the Sun by Emily Nussbaum; design by Michael Morris (Random House / June 2024)

An Excellent Host by Chelsea G. Summers; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / April 2024)

I’m a bit late to this. An Excellent Host, a short story by Chelsea G. Summers author of the cult hit A Certain Hunger, was originally printed exclusively for Independent Bookstore Day back in April. Signed copies are still currently available from the publisher. Jaya Nicely also designed the cover of A Certain Hunger of course…

Fire Exit by Morgan Talty; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / June 2024)

The Friday Afternoon Club by Griffin Dunne; design by Evan Gaffney; photograph by Camilla McGrath (Penguin Press / June 2024)

Nice swooshy type here, and that photo.

Girls by Kirsty Capes; design by Dan Jackson; art by Tracey Sylvester Harris (Orion / May 2024)

Gub by Scott McKendry; design by Anna Morrison (Little, Brown / February 2024)

In Tongues by Thomas Grattan; design by Alex Merto (MCD / May 2024)

The Mark by Fríða Ísberg; design by Robbie Porter (Faber & Faber / June 2024)

Ominous blobs are back!

MILF by Paloma Faith; design by Jack Smyth (Ebury / June 2024)

This reminded me of Darren Haggar’s cover for the W.W. Norton edition of Crime by Irvine Welsh from the distant days of 2009.

Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova; design by Tom Etherington (Cinder House / June 2024)

The cover of the US edition of Monstrilio, published by Zando in March last year, was designed by Alex Merto. I was a little late to it, but it was included in my September round-up.

Overstaying by Ariane Koch; design by Jonathan Pelham (Pushkin Press / April 2024)

A Perfect Day to Be Alone by Nanae Aoyama; design by Jack Smyth (Quercus / May 2024)

Please Stop Trying to Leave Me by Alana Saab; design by Mark Abrams; painting by Jennifer Allnut (Knopf / June 2024)

There are shades of Italian Renaissance painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo about this cover.

The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / June 2024)

Supplication by Nour Abi-Nakhoul; design by Luke Bird (Influx Press / June 2024)

I’m not much of a horror fan so my frame of reference is very dated, but this cover immediately made me thing of the 1998 Japanese movie Ringu (and the end of The Blair Witch Project).

The Canadian cover of Supplication designed by Emma Dolan for PRH Canada was featured in last month’s list.

(Thanks to Jack Smyth for the UK cover credit. Cheers Jack)

The Survivors of the Clotilda by Hannah Durkin; design by Mike McQuade (Amistad Press / January 2024)

Technology is Not the Problem by Timandra Harkness; design by Steve Leard (HQ / May 2024)

Eye, eye…

When Women Ran Fifth Avenue by Julie Satow; design by Emily Mahon (Doubleday / June 2024)

This makes a nice pair with the cover of The Upstairs Delicatessen by Dwight Garner designed by June Park and published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in October last year.

Worry by Alexandra Tanner; design by Alicia Tatone; painting by Shannon Cartier Lucy (Scribner / March 2024)

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Published March 30, 2023

Book Covers of Note, March 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Can this start a dogs on book covers trend?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Published February 27, 2023

Book Covers of Note, February 2023

I hope you’re all safe and well. Here are the book covers that caught the attention this month…

B.F.F. by Christie Tate; design by Ben Wiseman (Avid Reader Press / February 2023)

Big Swiss by Jen Beagin; design Jaya Miceli; art by Anna Weyant (Scribner / February 2023)

Brutes by Dizz Tate; design by Nicole Caputo (Catapult / February 2023)

Couplets by Maggie Millner; design by June Park (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2023)

The cover of the UK edition of Couplets was designed by Kishan Rajani for Faber. It’s interesting that both covers use vertical type.

Dominion (50th Anniversary Edition) by Tom Holland; design by David Pearson (Abacus / February 2023)

8 Rules of Love by Jay Shetty; design by Rodrigo Corral (Simon & Schuster / January 2023)

The Employees by Olga Ravn; design by Paul Sahre (New Directions / February 2023)

The back cover is also rad… (thanks to Erik at New Directions for sending it over!)

I have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai; design by Elizabeth Yaffe (Viking / February 2023)

The Laughter by Sonora Jha; design by Alicia Tatone; art by Vartika Sharma (Harpervia / February 2023)

River Sing Me Home by Eleanor Shearer; design by Vi-An Nguyen; illustration by Jessica Cruickshank (Berkley Books / January 2023)

Sam by Allegra Goodman; design by Donna Cheng; photograph by Mariam Sitchinava (Dial Press / January 2023)

I’m not sure exactly why, but I just assumed this was a UK cover when I first saw it (despite it literally having “New York Times Bestselling Author” in all-caps at the top!).

The Shutter of Snow by Emily Holmes Coleman; design by Pete Adlington; illustration by Bill Bragg (Faber / February 2023)

Sing, Nightingale by Marie Hélène Poitras; translated by Rhonda Mullins ; design by Ingrid Paulson (Coach House / February 2023)

For some reason this makes me think of the ‘weird nature’ (including animals with human eyes!) in Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer, which is still one of my favourite novels of the last 10 years…

True Life by Adam Zagajewski; design by Jeff Clark (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2023)

Tunnel 29 by Helena Merriman; design by Pete Garceau (PublicAffairs / January 2023)

I also saw Pete Garceau’s cover for School House Burning by Derek W. Black recently, which snuck past me when it was published by PublicAffairs in September 2020 but still seems terribly au courant…

Wolfish by Erica Berry; design by Keith Hayes; illustration by Rokas Aleliunas (Flatiron / February 2023)

Coincidentally, Rokas Aleliunas’s website is casualpolarbear.com.

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Published August 30, 2022

Book Covers of Note, August 2022

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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