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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, 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 April 2024
Published April 26, 2024

Book Covers of Note April 2024

Hey, I hope you’re safe and well. I’m a little bit ahead of schedule because fall sales conference season is upon us, and I have to be in New York for work next week. I’m less ahead than I would’ve liked — PRINT has already beaten me to the punch! — but here we are, a couple of days earlier than usual, with another look at some new and recent book covers. April is National Poetry Month in the US so there are a few poetry covers in the mix, as well as a couple of covers from independent presses, an Australian cover, and all the usual suspects.

Bones Worth Breaking by David Martinez; design by Alex Merto (MCD / April 2024)

Charlie Hustle by Keith O’Brien; design by Eli Mock (Pantheon / March 2024)

I just like the type and the colour palette here.

Cahokia Jazz by Francis Spufford; design by Henry Petrides (Faber & Faber / April 2024)

The Curse of Pietro Houdini by Derek B. Miller; design by David Gee (Avid Reader Press / January 2024)

Divided Island by Daniela Tarazona; design by Jack Smyth (Deep Vellum / April 2024)

The Formula by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg; design by Pete Garceau (Mariner Books / March 2024)

Two nonfiction sports books in one post! Does Formula One really count as a sport? Not for me, Clive. But the subtitle says it is, and a Canadian friend once told me that for something to qualify as a sport it has to endanger your life in some fundamental way, so I guess F1 qualifies under Quebec Rules for Teen Boys if nothing else.

Anyway, it might be fun to do a post of interesting sports books covers at some point if I can find the time (let me know if any great examples come to mind!).

Honey by Victor Lodata; design by Robin Bilardello (Harper / April 2023)

Kill For Me Kill For You by Steve Cavanagh; design by Laywan Kwan (Atria / March 2024)

I feel like this is a bit different for a psychological thriller? I like the type a lot.

Knife by Salman Rushdie; design by Arsh Raziuddin (Random House / April 2024)

Interestingly, there is an “eye” motif on the spine with the Random House logo in the centre. Look for it next time you’re in a bookstore.

Also, this cover isn’t the first to riff, consciously or otherwise, on the cut canvases of Italian artist Lucio Fontana. The cover of Ball by Tara Ison, designed by Kelly Winton, comes to mind. I’m sure there are other examples (David Gee’s unpublished cover for Lolita. Are the more?).

Madness by Antonia Hylton; design by Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Footnote Press / March 2024)

Memory Piece by Lisa Ko; design Grace Han (Riverhead / March 2024)

The Moon That Turns You Back by Hala Alyan; design by Vivian Lopez Rowe (Ecco / March 2024)

The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso; design by Joan Wong (New Directions / April 2024)

Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr; design Kate Sinclair (Strange Light / April 2024)

The Roadmap of Loss by Liam Murphy; design by Lisa White (Echo / January 2024)

I don’t post enough Australian cover designs generally, and I’m late to this one, but I like the grunginess of it.

Short War by Lily Meyer; design by Emily Mahon (Strange Object / April 2024)

Sociopath by Patric Gagne; design by Rodrigo Corral (Simon & Schuster / April 2024)

36 Ways of Writing a Vietnamese Poem by Nam Le; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / March 2024)

It’s nice to have two big, blocky, black and white type-only covers this month.

Twelve Trees by Daniel Lewis; design by Alison Forner; illustration by Eric Nyquist (Avid Reader / March 2024)

This reminded me of Eric’s illustrations for the covers of Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach trilogy designed by Charlotte Strick.

Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)
Acceptance by Jeff VanderMeer (US); design by Charlotte Strick; Illustration by Eric Nyquist (FSG / 2014)

Weird Black Girls by Elwin Cotman; design by Michael Morris (Scribner / April 2024)

(The illustration also looks like something from Area X / the Southern Reach trilogy!)

While We Were Burning by Sara Koffi; design by Vi-An Nguyen (G.P. Putnam’s Sons / April 2024)

With My Back to the World by Victoria Chang; design by Thom Colligan (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / April 2024)

You Are Here edited by Ada Limón; design by Mary Austin Speaker; art by Enikő Katalin Eged (Milkweed / April 2024)

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