Books, Design and Culture
The cover of last weekend’s New York Times Book Review featured a lovely Klaus Kremmerz‘s illustration for Playworld by Adam Scott (the cover of which, designed by Oliver Munday, was in last month’s round-up). I like how the building looks like a row of books on a shelf.
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I love Tom Gauld‘s latest cover for the New Yorker so much. We just had sleet and freezing rain in Toronto so that part is accurate. But it’s not just the weather. Everything feels pretty bleak at the moment and, like many others, I have found myself seeking solace in art too.
(I also have a dog. I should post more dog cartoons)
Comments closedAs it is Friday afternoon here are a few recent book-related cartoons that I enjoyed…
Asher Perlman‘s collection of cartoons Well, This Is Me was published last year.
Grickle‘s kids graphic novel Eerie Tales from the School of Screams is weird and fun.
Tom Gauld‘s new collection of cartoons Physics for Cats will be out in the fall.
Comments closedHey, I hope you’re keeping safe, well and warm (or cool!) wherever you are.
If you missed it, my first post of 2025 was a look back at some of last year’s YA covers. You can find my 2024 list of notable literary covers here. Both posts got me thinking more generally about these lists. Do I need to change things up? Or stop altogether? Several other sites are posting lists that do much the same thing mine, and they are all starting to feel too alike. I don’t have answer, and I don’t really know I would do differently. I’m struggling to post once a month as it is. For now at least I’ll keep posting the covers that interest me. It’s just something that’s on my mind, and I have other projects I’ve been neglecting, so I’m curious if you have opinions.
Anyway, this month’s post is a bit of a short (but good!) one, and includes a couple of covers that I missed in 2024 for one reason or another. Enjoy!
Between Two Waters by Pam Brunton; design by Gill Heeley (Canongate / September 2024)
Although this came out in September 2024 in the UK, it is out this month in the US and Canada. It looks very nice in real life.
Blob by Maggie Su; design by Robin Bilardello (Harper / January 2025)
The End of the World and Hardboiled Wonderland by Haruki Murakami; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Takaya Katsuragawa (Vintage / December 2024)
A late, but very nice entry from 2024. The wraparound illustration is particularly good…
Everything Must Go by Dorian Lynskey; design by Eli Mock (Pantheon / January 2025)
Eurotrash by Christian Kracht; design by Sinem Erkas (Profile Books / November 2024)
I do really like this cover. It looks great! But it also looks a lot like non-fiction, especially when compared to the cover of the US edition (Liveright, October 2024) designed by Jason Heuer. They look like completely different books!
And speaking of Jason Heuer, he’s made a series of fun videos talking about embarrassing moments from his early graphic design career. You can find them on YouTube and Instagram. In the second episode Jason talks about his first book design credit…
From These Roots by Tamara Lanier; design by Anna Kochman; illustration by Mark Harris (Crown / January 2025)
Going Home by Tom Lamont; design by Jared Bartman (Knopf / January 2025)
I’ll Come To You by Rebecca Kauffman; design by Nicole Caputo (Counterpoint / January 2025)
Nicole’s cover for The Gunners by Rebecca Kauffman was featured on the blog way back in March 2018.
A Kind of Madness by Uche Okonkwo; design by Elsa Mathern (Verve Books / January 2025)
Oromay by Baalu Girma; design by Nathan Burton (Quercus / January 2025)
Playworld by Adam Ross; design by Oliver Munday (Knopf / January 2025)
The cover of Mr. Peanut by Adam Ross, designed by Peter Mendelsund was one of my favourite covers of 2010.
Something Rotten by Andrew Lipstein; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2025)
These feels like a weird and funny companion to Na’s cover for Close to Home by Michael Magee from 2023…
Too Soon by Betty Shamieh; design by Kimberly Glyder (Avid Reader Press / January 2025)
Under the Eye of the Big Bird by Hironi Kawakami; design by Luke Bird (Granta / January 2025)
There are shades of Charley Harper about this.
The Vanishing Point by Paul Theroux; design by Pete Garceau (Mariner Books / January 2025)
Comments closedHappy New Year! I hope you’re keeping safe and well. The first post of the year is the now customary look back at the previous year’s Young Adult covers. All the covers on this year’s list are illustrated (which was almost, but not quite, the case last year too). I love illustration — it’s part of the reason why I still keep doing these posts! — so it’s possible that this just reflects my personal preferences, but almost all the YA covers I saw this year were illustrated. There were very few photographic or type/letter-only covers.
I compile this list a little differently to my adult list. It’s mostly done over a few weeks at the end of the year rather than compiled across the year as a whole. I’m sure this skews my selections too. I’m probably overly reliant on cover reveal posts and best of the year lists. I think this probably means that the big American publishers are over-represented, which is less than ideal. I suspect they’re dominant in the category anyway, but I’m sure I am missing some interesting covers from independent and international publishers all the same.
The Horror and Fantasy seem to be having a moment. The line between YA and adult covers seems very blurred in both genres. I had to double-check a number to titles to confirm where they belonged. It happened often enough for me to think it was intentional, which probably speaks to who is reading YA and what they are looking for. It is also possible that I am over-indexing both genres here because they seem more mature and they appeal to me personally. I am also less of a fan of the illustration styles popular for the romance genres at the moment, so I think it’s fair to say they are under-represented on the list. I am very aware that I am not the target audience, so I’m not sure it is something that should overly worry art directors (although apologies if you’re disappointed not to see more of your covers on the list!). Still, it might be nice to see some new / different approaches to Romance — and all genres, frankly — going forward.
And with that, I wish you all the best for 2025, and I hope you enjoy the post!
Bad Graces by Kyrie McCauley; design by Joel Tippie; art by Katya Murysina (Katherine Tegen Books / June 2024)
Bad Like Us by Gabriella Lepore; design and illustration by Julian D. Paulsen (Inkyard Press / March 2024)
Clown in a Cornfield 3: The Church of Frendo by Adam Cesare; design Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Matt Ryan Tobin (HarperTeen / August 2024)
I think this is my favourite cover from the series thus far, but the covers of the original Clown in a Cornfield from 2020, and the second book Frendo Lives from 2022, are also very creepy.
Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi; design by Samira Iravani; art by Lola Idowu (Henry Holt / June 2024)
The previous two books in the series, Children of Blood and Bone and Children of Virtue and Vengeance, were in my 2018 and 2019 lists respectively, although they have a different designer and different illustrators.
Compound Fracture by Andrew Joseph White; design and illustration by Evangeline Gallagher (Peachtree Teen / September 2024)
The cover of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth by Andrew Joseph White was on last year’s list.
A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art by Yejin Park (Feiwel & Friends / May 2024)
The covers of June Hur’s books The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls were on the 2020 and 2021 lists respectively, again with different designers and illustrators.
Don’t Let the Forest In by CG Drews; design by Meg Sayre; art by Jana Heidersdorf (Feiwel & Friends / October 2024)
Dust by Alison Stine; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Annabelle Ariane (Wednesday Books / December 2024)
The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow; design by Casey Moses; art by Victo Ngai (Delacorte Press / August 2024)
The cover of the UK edition of The Girl With No Reflection published by Hodder & Stoughton was designed by Micaela Alcaino.
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao; design by Terri Nimmo; art by Ashley Mackenzie (Tundra / December 2024)
The cover of Iron Widow, the previous book in the series, was on the 2021 list.
The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright; design by Corina Lupp; art by Christin Engelberth (Harperteen / March 2024)
The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadettes by Hanna Alkaf; design by Leo Nickolls (Simon & Schuster BFYR / September 2024)
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland; design by Theresa Evangelista; art by Aykut Aydoğdu (Nancy Paulsen Books / January 2024)
Kindling by Traci Chee; design by Kathy H. Lam; art by Kiuyan Ran (HarperCollins / February 2024)
The cover of A Thousand Steps into the Night by Traci Chee was on the 2022 list with a different art style.
Made Glorious by Lindsay Eager; design by Maria T. Middleton; art by Deena So’Oteh (Candlewick / April 2024)
I missed the cover of The Family Fortuna by Lindsay Eagar last year, but it’s also delightfully creepy. The art is by Elena Masci, and I believe the designer is Matt Roeser.
Merciless Saviors by H. E. Edgmon; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Elena Masci (Wednesday Books / April 2024)
Moonstorm by Yoon Ha Lee; design by Liz Dresner; art by Priscilla Kim (Delacorte Press / June 2024)
Most Ardently by Gabe Cole Novoa; design by Samira Iravani; art by Marlowe Lune (Feiwel & Friends / January 2024)
Night Owls A. R. Vishny; design by Jenna Stempel-Lobell; art by Zach Meyer (HarperCollins / September 2024)
Old Wounds by Logan-Ashley Kisner; design by Liz Dresner; art by Zoë van Dijk (Delacorte Press / September 2024)
The Orbit of You by Ashley Schumacher; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Giuditta Bertoni (Wednesday / March 2024)
Our Wicked Histories by Amy Goldsmith; design by Liz Dresner; art by Marcela Bolivar (Delacorte Press / July 2024)
My Throat an Open Grave by Tori Bovalino; design by Rosie Stewart; art by Tristan Elwell (Page Street YA / February 2024)
A Place for Vanishing by Ann Fraistat; design by Trisha Previte; art by Zoë van Dijk (Delacorte Press / January 2024)
Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno; design by Rebecca Syracuse; art by Serena Archetti (Atheneum BFYR / October 2024)
Silver in the Bone by Alexandra Bracken; design Liz Dresner; art Tomasz Majewski (Ember / May 2024)
This is actually the paperback of the first title in series. The new cover matches the latest book, released in July, The Mirror of Beasts.
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole; design by Jenny Kimura; art by Taj Francis (Little, Brown BFYR / January 2024)
So Witches We Became by Jill Baguchinsky; design Jenny Kimura; art by Marco Mazzoni (Little, Brown BFYR / July 2024)
Songs of the Six Realms by Judy I. Lin; design by Rich Deas; art by Sija Hong (Feiwel & Friends / July 2024)
The cover of A Magic Steeped in Poison and it’s sequel A Venom Dark and Sweet by Judy I. Lin were on 2022’s list.
Stranger Skies by Pascale Lacelle; design by Greg Stadnyk (Margaret K. McElderry Books / November 2024)
The cover of Curious Tides by Pascale Lacelle was on last year’s list.
Sunrise Nights by Jeff Zentner & Brittany Cavallaro; design Laura Mock; art by Hokyoung Kim (Quill Tree Books / July 2024)
Tender Beasts by Liselle Sambury; design by Greg Stadnyk; art by Elena Masci (Margaret K. McElderry Books / February 2024)
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal; design by Aurora Parlagreco; art by Valentina Remenar (Farrar, Straus & Giroux BYR / February 2024)
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang; design by Regina Flath; art by Sija Hong (Del Rey Books / April 2024)
To The Bone by Alena Bruzas; design by Kristie Radwilowicz; art by Adam Parata (Rocky Pond Books / September 2024)
Twenty- Four Seconds From Now by Jason Reynolds; design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian; art by Daniel Egnéus (Atheneum Books / October 2024)
Under This Red Rock by Mindy McGinnis; design by David Curtis; art by Corey Brickley (Katherine Tegen Books / March 2024)
The cover of The Last Laugh by Mindy McGinnis (and re-jacketed backlist) were on the 2022 list.
What the Woods Took by Courtney Gould; design by Kerri Resnick; art by Peter Strain (Wednesday Books / December 2024)
I was sure I had included the covers forThe Dead and the Dark and Where Echoes Die by Courtney Gould illustrated by Peter Strain in previous lists, but apparently I hadn’t. They’re really nice:
Where Sleeping Girls Lie by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé; design by Elizabeth Clark; art by Aykut Aydoğdu (Feiwel & Friends / March 2024)
Comments closedIt is the time of year for lists and I should’ve been done weeks ago, but I am late and already well behind the pack. Apologies for that.
I admire Matt Dorfman‘s ability to whittle his list down to a dozen covers for the New York Times. I imagine it takes him a lot less time for one thing, but I’m sure Matt still agonizes over every cover. It requires a level of discipline and restraint that I do not possess to keep it that tight year after year.
I am not alone in that latter respect. LitHub’s list, chosen by designers, is 167 covers this year. 28 covers more than last year’s already long list, 64 more than 2022, and 66 more than 2021.
In 2020, their list was relatively lean 89.
PRINT’s list of best book covers of 2024, compiled by editor-at-large Zachary Petit, is also long. It’s a 100 covers. Last year it was 50.
I’m not trying to throw stones here. We are all seeing more covers than we used to. There are more books for one thing. But they’re not just something we just experience in print in anymore. You don’t have to go into a bookstore or read the newspaper or magazine to see them. They’ve become something we see and share all the time online. Designers are promoting their own work and (slowly) getting more credit for it (although there is a lot more to be done in that area. Publishers — credit your designers!). My monthly round-ups are now one of several you can choose from.
And it is not like my list is short. This year it features work by 48 designers — more than half of them women — and 86 covers (plus a couple of supplementary images).
The consensus seems to be that it was a decent year for covers, and it’s hard to argue with other people’s selections even if I don’t love them all.
It is telling though that 100 of LitHub’s selections were individual picks. There are covers on my list that are not on the anyone else’s despite their length. So while I think we agree there were lots of good covers, I’m less certain we entirely agree on which ones were actually the outstanding ones.
A recent article Spine argued that there is a battle between minimalism and maximalism going on (you can find Spine’s end of year list here by the way). I think that could be true. Different approaches work for different audiences. But I also think it’s messier than that. I get the sense that publishers are less sure of what they want and what sells (certain genres notwithstanding).
It has been a rough year for a lot of publishers, so there is undoubtedly a lot of uncertainty, and no small amount of anxiety. I could go on about why that it is (and the publishing’s self-inflicted wounds) but, in short, what I think we’re also seeing with book covers is more meddling and less direction.
Anyway, I don’t want to end this on a bleak note. This year was shit enough. Despite it all, there genuinely were a lot of good covers in 2024, and some that I did think we’re outstanding. A couple of them made me laugh, which was no small thing. It was a strong year for several individual designers in particular and, despite the pressures, many produced work that was recognizably theirs. I thought there were more interesting covers coming out of the UK and Ireland (that mercifully wasn’t just about the inks or the finishes!), and there were some fun Canadian covers too.
Thanks, as always, for reading, and I hope you’re all keeping safe and well. Happy Holidays!
Alphabetical Diaries by Sheila Heti; design by Na Kim (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2024)
Anyone’s Ghost by August Thompson; design by Keith Hayes (Penguin Press / July 2024)
The Abyss by Fernando Vallejo; design by Janet Hansen (New Directions / June 2024)
Also designed by Janet Hansen:
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino; design by Thom Colligan (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / January 2024)
Birding by Rose Ruane; design by Charlotte Stroomer; photograph by Kelsey McClellan (Little, Brown / May 2024)
Butter by Asako Yuzuki; design by Emma Pidsley (HarperCollins / February 2024)
Challenger by Adam Higginbotham; design by Pete Garceau (Avid Reader Press / May 2024)
Cold by David Hayden Taylor; design by Kelly Hill (McClelland & Stewart / January 2024)
Crisis Actor by Declan Ryan; design by Stephanie Cui (Farrar, Straus & Giroux / February 2024)
Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes; design by Luke Bird (Quercus / September 2024)
Also designed by Luke Bird (and I could’ve several included more!):
Defectors by Paola Ramos; design Chantal Jahchan (Pantheon / September 2024)
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / September 2024)
Also designed by Lauren Peters-Collaer:
Everything and Nothing At All by Jenny Heijun Wills; design by Terri Nimmo (Knopf Canada / August 2024)
Fog & Car by Eugene Lim; design by Michael Salu (Coffee House Press / July 2024)
It’s the spine and back cover that really make this for me.
Fruit of the Dead by Rachel Lyon; design by Math Monahan (Scribner / March 2024)
Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon; design by Gregg Kulick (Henry Holt / March 2024)
Also designed by Gregg Kulick:
Greta & Valdin by Rebecca K. Reilly; design by Clay Smith (Avid Reader Press / February 2024)
Honey by Victor Lodata; design by Robin Bilardello (Harper / April 2023)
In Tongues by Thomas Grattan; design by Alex Merto (MCD / May 2024)
Also designed by Alex Merto:
Ixelles by Johannes Anyuru; design by Jonathan Pelham (Two Lines Press / October 2024)
Kittentits by Holly Wilson; design by Eli Mock (Zando / May 2024)
Latino Poetry: The Library of America Anthology by Rigoberto González; by design by Isabel Urbina Peña (Library of Amerca / September 2024)
Also designed by Isabel Urbina Peña:
Liars by Sarah Manguso; design by Cassie Gonzalez (Hogarth Press / July 2024)
Little Rot by Akwaeje Emezi; design by Kishan Rajani (Faber & Faber / July 2024)
Also designed by Kishan Rajani :
Love Junkie by Robert Plunket; design by Oliver Munday (New Directions / May 2024)
Also designed by Oliver Munday:
Madness by Antonia Hylton; design by Daniel Benneworth-Gray (Footnote Press / March 2024)
Mammoth by Eva Baltasar; design by Anna Morrison (And Other Stories / August 2025)
MILF by Paloma Faith; design by Jack Smyth (Ebury / June 2024)
Also designed by Jack Smith:
The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley; design by Alison Forner; typography by Andrew Footit (Avid Reader Press / May 2024)
Mojave Ghost by Forrest Gander; design by Giacomo Girardi / Rodrigo Corral; lettering by Adriana Tonello (New Directions / October 2024)
Monstrilio by Gerardo Sámano Córdova; design by Tom Etherington (Cinder House / June 2024)
Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / August 2024)
Also designed by Beth Steidle:
Necrology by Meg Ripley; design by Luísa Dias (Creature Publishing / September 2024)
Also designed by Luísa Dias:
Nicked by M. T. Anderson; design by Zak Tebbal (Pantheon / July 2024)
The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso; design by Joan Wong (New Directions / April 2024)
The Observable Universe by Heather McCalden; design by Arsh Raziuddin and Gaby Pesqueira Ortiz (Hogarth / March 2024)
Also designed by Also designed by Arsh Raziuddin:
Piglet by Lottie Hazell; design by Jenni Surasky; art by Noah Verrier (Henry Holt / February 2024)
A Reason To See You Again by Jami Attenberg; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / September 2024)
Sociopath by Patric Gagne; design by Rodrigo Corral (Simon & Schuster / April 2024)
The Sons of El Rey by Alex Espinoza; design by David Litman (Simon & Schuster / June 2024)
Supplication by Nour Abi-Nakhoul; design by Emma Dolan (Strange Light / May 2024)
There’s Always This Year by Hanif Abdurraqib; design by Tyler Comrie; photograph by Matt Eich (Random House / March 2024)
Also designed by Tyler Comrie:
Thirst by Marina Yuszczuk; design by Kaitlin Kall (Dutton / March 2024)
The Understory by Saneh Sangsuk; design by Emily Mahon (Deep Vellum / March 2024)
Also designed by Emily Mahon:
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange; design by Linda Huang (Knopf / February 2024)
Also designed by Linda Huang:
Wandering Stars, by Tommy Orange; design by Suzanne Dean (Vintage / March 2024)
Also designed by Suzanne Dean:
I also have to give a special shout out to the cover for Paper Boat by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus / October 2024). Suzanne commissioned paper art by Nathan Ward to design a template for a paper boat that could be cut out from the dust jacket and stuck together.
You Dreamed of Empires by Álvaro Enrigue; design Kris Potter; illustration by Rodolfo Baquier (Vintage / January 2024)
You Glow in the Dark by Liliana Colanzi; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / February 2024)
Also designed by Jamie Keenan:
Hey, I hope you are good. It’s a stressful time and everyone is super busy trying to hold it together, but here we are at the end of October with another post that is both rushed and yet wordier than ever! As usual, I won’t be doing a covers round-up in November. I have to start working on the massive end of year post so I can get it done in something resembling a timely and relevant manner. I am open to last minute submissions if you think I have missed a cover, or you have something coming out between now and December. I can’t promise to include everything, but it would be especially great to hear from you if you’ve done something cool for a university press or an independent publisher this year. The only requirement is that the book was published and on shelves in 2024. If it was published in a non-English speaking part of the world, be sure to include a link to where people can find out more about the book (and ideally buy it) that isn’t Amazon.
On a related note, I have compiled an annual post of YA covers for, I don’t know, years now (10 maybe?). I don’t read a lot of YA, and it’s not a category I am very involved in professionally, so the posts take quite a long time to compile and I usually end up publishing them early in the New Year, which is less than ideal. So I guess my question is: do you still want a YA round-up? Folks used to ask for them, and now they don’t, which just be general fatigue and the fragmented nature of things at the moment, but the posts don’t attract submissions or much feedback, and interest seems to be waning. Obviously I don’t think I do a great job (if that wasn’t abundantly clear already!), but I haven’t really seen anyone else do one either, so I’ve kept doing it. I don’t know… I’m not a big a believer in clicks or engagement metrics as a measurement of anything useful, so I happy to do it if even just a couple of you say it’s still valuable. Or maybe it is just time to call it quits? Let me know what you think…
And with that, onto this month’s selections…
Absolution by Jeff VanderMeer; design by Pablo Delcan (MCD / October 2024)
Pablo Delcan also designed the covers of the 10th anniversary editions of the previous books in the Southern Reach series, Annihilation, Authority, and Acceptance, published by Picador earlier this year.
I’m still quite partial to the original US covers the trilogy (as was) designed by Charlotte Strick with illustrations by Eric Nyquist. The cover of Annihilation reminds me of The Day of the Triffids, which coincidentally has has an introduction by Jeff VanderMeer if you have the Modern Library edition. (The slightly bonkers cover of the Modern Library edition was designed by Cassie Gonzales with an illustration by comic book artist and illustrator Anders Nilson). Anyway, I’m a little sad that I can’t get the prequel to match the rest of my existing set.
Between This World and the Next by Praveen Herat; design by Jamie Keenan; illustration by Sukutangan (Restless Books / June 2024)
The Book Against Death by Elias Canetti; design by Jamie Keenan (New Directions / November 2024)
The Book of George by Kate Greathead; design by Nicole Seeback Ruggiero (Henry Holt / October 2024)
The cover of the UK edition of The Book of George, available from Atlantic Books in January 2025, was designed by Holly Battle.
On the Calculation of Volume Book I and Book II by Solvej Balle; design by Matt Dorfman (New Directions / November 2024)
The Coiled Serpent by Camilla Grudova; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / October 2024)
The cover of the UK edition, published in November 2023 by Atlantic Books, was also designed by Holly Battle.
The Driving Machine by Witold Rybczynski; design by Jared Bartman (W.W. Norton / October 2024)
An Earthquake is a Shaking of the Surface of the Earth by Anna Moschovakis; design by Gregg Kulick (Soft Skull / November 2024)
First Law of Holes by Meg Pokrass; design by Steven Seighman (Dzanc / September 2024)
Sorry I missed this last month when I was complaining about not having enough covers from independent publishers (sigh). But also birds + polka dots…
Hold Everything by Dobby Gibson; design by Alban Fischer (Graywolf / October 2024)
Invisible Kitties by Yu Yoyo; design by Steven Brayda; art by Yu Yoyo (HarperVia / October 2024)
Ixelles by Johannes Anyuru; design by Jonathan Pelham (Two Lines Press / October 2024)
The Living Statue by Günter Grass; design by Pablo Delcan (New Directions / October 2024)
This feels very familiar, but I can’t put my finger on why. The best I’ve got is that it looks like a poster for a theatre production. It feels very European. The austerity of it gives late 1980s-90s vibes. I don’t know. I think it’s great.
Mojave Ghost by Forrest Gander; design by Giacomo Girardi / Rodrigo Corral; lettering by Adriana Tonello (New Directions / October 2024)
Music and Joy by Daniel K. L. Chua; design by Sarah Schulte (Yale University Press / August 2024)
Paper Boat by Margaret Atwood; design by Suzanne Dean; paper art by Nathan Ward (Chatto & Windus / October 2024)
Remarkably, the design incorporates a template for paper boat that can be cut from the dust jacket and stuck together.
The cover of the Canadian edition of Paper Boat, published by McClelland & Stewart, was designed by Kelly Hill using art by Paul Klee. The cover for the US edition published by Knopf was designed by Janet Hansen. The photograph is by Ruven Afanador. It’s interesting to me that it was the US decided to use a portrait on the cover. I mean it’s a beautiful photograph and Margaret Atwood is very distinctive looking, but I would imagine she would be more recognizable to Canadians than to Americans? Anyway, it’s not often you see three entirely different approaches in the UK, US and Canada for a poetry collection.
Paper of Wreckage by Susan Mulcahy and Frank DiGiacomo; design by Claire Sullivan (Atria Books / October 2024)
It’s quite something that they got “Wanker” into the subtitle.
Perris, California by Rachel Stark; design by Holly Macdonald (New River Books / September 2024)
The Silver Snarling Trumpet by Robert Hunter; design and illustration by Nathaniel Deas (Hachette / October 2024)
Tell Me Something, Tell Me Anything, Even It It’s a Lie by Steve Wasserman; design by David Drummond (Heyday Books / October 2024)
I knew exactly who designed this cover the moment I saw it!
The Unfinished Harauld Hughes by Richard Ayoade; portrait by James Lloyd (Faber / October 2024)
If anyone can tell me who the designer is on this, I’d greatly appreciate it.
Way Home by Josephine Ensign; design by Tobias Design (John Hopkins University Press / November 2024)
We All Shine On by Elliot Mintz; Design by Vi-An Nguyen; photography by Nishi F. Saimaru (Dutton / October 2024)
Women’s Hotel by Daniel M. Lavery; design by Stephen Brayda; illustration by Thibaud Herem (Harpervia / October 2024)
Comments closedHey, I hope you’re keeping safe and well wherever you are. Apart from the weird Toronto weather, it is definitely FALL here with the kids back in school and days of seemingly endless pre-sales calls and shortlists. It is also the time of year for “big” books of course, and there are more covers from the conglomerate publishers in this month’s post than I would generally like. My sense is that independent publishers try to avoid releasing their books in September if they can these days, but maybe I just haven’t seen the right ones? Anyway I guess we should be glad the big guys still care about fun covers, right?
Colored Television by Danzy Senna; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / September 2024)
Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Jennifer Dionisio (Vintage / September 2024)
The cover of the US edition of Creation Lake published Scribner this month was designed by Oliver Munday.
Dear Dickhead by Virginie Despentes; design by Luke Bird (Quercus / September 2024)
The cover of the US edition of Dear Dickhead published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux was designed by Alex Merto.
Defectors by Paola Ramos; design Chantal Jahchan (Pantheon / September 2024)
The Empusium by Olga Tokarczuk; design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Riverhead / September 2024)
You wait months for a bonkers new cover from LPC to come along, then two arrive at once!
Entitlement by Rumaan Alam; design by Grace Han; illustration by Tishk Barzanji (Riverhead / September 2024)
I think this works quite well with the cover of Rumaan Alam previous novel Leave the World Behind designed by Sara Wood for Ecco.
The First Friend by Malcolm Knox; design by Josh Durham (Allen & Unwin / September 2024)
Hampton Heights by Dan Kois; design by Olivia McGiff (Harper Perennial / September 2024)
Health and Safety by Emily Witt; design by Linda Huang; photograph by Luis Nieto Dickens (Pantheon / September 2024)
Herscht 07769 by László Krasznahorkai; design by O.O.P. (New Directions / September 2024)
O.O.P also designed the covers of previous books by László Krasznahorkai including Baron Wenckheim’s Homecoming and The World Goes On.
In Our Likeness by Bryan Vandyke; design by Joanne O’Neill (Little A / September 2024)
Liontaming in America by Elizabeth Willis; design by Joan Wong (New Directions / September 2024)
Next Stop by Benjamin Resnick; design by Clay Smith (Avid Reader / September 2024)
On Freedom by Timothy Snyder; design by Suzanne Dean; art by Anton Logov (Vintage / September 2024)
One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman by Abi Maxwell; design by Janet Hansen (Knopf / September 2024)
A Reason To See You Again by Jami Attenberg; design by Allison Saltzman (Ecco / September 2024)
Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte; design by Ploy Siripant (William Morrow & Co. / September 2024)
Sky Full of Elephants by Cebo Campbell; design by Tyler Comrie (Simon & Schuster / September 2024)
States of Emergency by Chris Knapp; design by Jaya Nicely (Unnamed Press / September 2024)
Talkin’ Greenwich Village by David Browne; design by Keith Brogdon (Hachette / September 2024)
I just like the type here a lot, but the whole thing is really nicely done.
Tell Me Everything by Elizabeth Strout; design by Anna Kochman (Random House / September 2024)
This reminded me of the cover of Natural History by Carlos Fonseca designed by Pablo Delcan from a few years ago…
(And seeing this — and thinking of the cover of The Goldfinch designed by Keith Hayes too — reminded me that I did a post of bird themed covers a decade ago. Yikes)
Yr Dead by Sam Sax; design by Emma Ewbank (Daunt Books / August 2024)
(I wonder if there enough goat themed covers for a post??)
Comments closedThe Cari Vander Yacht illustrations of people distracted by reading that accompany the New Yorker‘s announcement of the 2024 National Book Awards longlists are really lovely. The animated versions on the site are really nice too.
Hey, I hope you’re keeping safe and well. I feel like I just finished July’s post and now it’s the end of August. There are a few more covers from earlier in the year in this month’s post. I’m still catching up. But there’s some Canadian content, a few covers from the UK, some indie presses, and a university press, which is always nice. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer!
1974 by Francine Prose; design by High Tide (Harper / June 2024)
Thanks to Robin Bilardello and AD Milan Bozic at Harper for their help on the credit for this one! :-)
Anyone’s Ghost by August Thompson; design by Keith Hayes (Penguin Press / July 2024)
This was published last month, but I had it in my August folder. If I had to guess it was because of the author’s name. I am easily confused.
The Buddha of Suburbia by Hanif Kureishi; design by Kishan Rajani (Faber / July? 2024)
I think this came out in July too, but it looks like Faber used the ISBN of the existing 2017 edition even though there is a new cover so I don’t know for sure when it was updated (publishers: don’t do this).
Burn by Peter Heller; design Kelly Blair; painting ‘Boat Building in Maine’ (detail) by Paul Dougherty (Knopf / August 2024)
Coexistence by Billy Ray Belcourt; design by Kelly Hill; photography by Steven Beckly (Hamish Hamilton Canada / May 2024)
Dogs and Monsters by Mark Haddon; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Neue Gestaltung (Vintage / August 2024)
Because I am of certain age (old and mouldering like an ancient vampire hiding from the sun of contemporary pop culture) this reminded me of the cabinet art for the original Space Invaders arcade game. Hilariously, if not surprisingly, there is a Fonts in Use post about the typography of the original promo materials and cabinet art of Space Invaders. If anyone knows of a good article about the artwork itself I would love to read it.
Everything and Nothing At All by Jenny Heijun Wills; design by Terri Nimmo (Knopf Canada / August 2024)
Feeding the Monster by Anna Bogutskaya; design by Henry Petrides (Faber / August 2025)
Speaking of all things retro, Henry has posted some photos of his Letraset experiments for this cover on Instagram.
Hair for Men by Michelle Williams; design by Greg Tabor (House of Anansi / August 2025)
There is something ‘early 2000s Canlit’ about this cover. If you’d told me this was designed for Anansi by Bill Douglas in like 2004 I would’ve believed you, and I mean that in the best way. (I appreciate that only the grizzled Canadian publishing folks like me will get this reference but hey…)
Layman’s Report by Eugene Marten; design by Kate Sinclair (McClelland & Stewart / August 2024)
Mammoth by Eva Baltasar; design by Anna Morrison (And Other Stories / August 2025)
Anna also designed the covers for two previous novels by Eva Baltasar published by AOS, including a pink special edition of Permafrost (which is possibly my favourite).
Mina’s Matchbox by Yoko Ogawa; design by Suzanne Dean; illustration by Gérard DuBois (Harvill Secker / August 2024)
The cover of the US edition published Pantheon this month by was designed by Tyler Comrie.
The Murmuration by Carlos Labbé; design by Anna Jordan (Open Letter / July 2024)
Mystery Lights by Lena Valencia; design by Beth Steidle (Tin House / August 2024)
Nicked by M. T. Anderson; design by Zak Tebbal (Pantheon / July 2024)
It might be time to update the now very old (10 years!) skulls post.
Nine Minds by Daniel Tammet; design by Louis Gabaldoni (Profile Books / July 2024)
I was trying to think what this reminded me of and I think it’s either Ed Emberley’s Great Thumbprint Drawing Book or possibly the current cover of Design as Art by Bruno Munari, which (IIRC) uses drawings of faces from inside the book (but no thumbprints!).
And, also designed by Louis…
On the Roof by Tom Allan; design by Louis Gabaldoni (Profile Books / August 2024)
This is really lovely…
Plastic by Scott Guild; design by Tyler Comrie (Pantheon / February 2024)
Oof. I’m very late to this one.
Plaything by Bea Setton; design by Beci Kelly (Transworld / June 2024)
I don’t know how you would describe this particular shade — salmon pink? Financial Times pink? (Are those variations of the same thing, actually?) — but it feels like a pink covers are still a bit of thing. (Did I mention pink covers already a couple of months ago? I think I did…? Sigh. I am repeating myself. It might be time to give this up)
Some White Folks by Jennifer Chudy; design by Elisha Zepeda / Faceout Studio (University of Chicago Press / July 2024)
I like this cover a lot, but is the disembodied hug also becoming a thing? I think I mentioned this a while back too! (Pictured: the cover The Nursery by by Szilvia Molnar designed by Hayley Warnham from May last year, and a poster by Vasilis Marmatakis for the 2015 movie The Lobster)
A Termination by Honor Moore; design by Janet Hansen (Public Space / August 2024)
Obviously the details of the designs and the approaches are quite different, but the cover of A Termination reminded me of the cover of Anxiety by Samir Chopra designed by Karl Spurzem for Princeton University Press from March this year. I think it’s an interesting compare and contrast?
The Wisdom of Sheep by Rosamund Young; design by Darren Haggar (Penguin Press / August 2024)
Comments closedI 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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Tom Gauld for The Guardian.
This is pretty much me whenever we go on vacation, although I usually bring more anxiety to the mix.
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