Vyki Hendy recaps last night's Academy of British Cover Design Awards
spinemagazine.co/articles/abc...
06.03.2026 19:36
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Vyki Hendy recaps last night's Academy of British Cover Design Awards
spinemagazine.co/articles/abc...
Thank you! :-)
It's fascinating to see the covers chosen by SPINE + LitHub in their round-ups. Sometimes there's significant overlap between our lists but this month we only chose a few of the same ones. I was surprised that Brawler by Lauren Groff designed by Jaya Miceli w/ art by Vladimir Dunjic was only in mine
Yeah, it’s incredible. I’m not sure anyone but Paul Sahre and New Directions can do this (and get away with it!!)
She Who Remains by Rene Karabsh; cover design by Sarah Schulte (Sandorf Passage / January 2026)
The Slip by Lucas Schaefer; design by Jack Smyth (Simon & Schuster / June 2025)
Bookalikes...
What do February’s best book covers have in common? Red.
lithub.com/the-11-best-...
Interestingly, there's not a ton of overlap between the three this month, although inevitably some of the selections are the same!
And here are Emily Temple's February selections for Lit Hub:
lithub.com/the-11-best-...
But other opinions are available! Here's Spine's Book Covers We Love post for February:
spinemagazine.co/book-covers-...
Here's my book cover round-up for February!
www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2026/02...
#books #design
An Archive of Commercial Illustration (c. 1950-75). So much throwback inspiration here! [kottke.org]
A book cover for 'Olenka' by Budi Darma, translated by Tiffany Tsao. The image is a drawing by Tom Gauld. A moonlit scene of an american suburban landscape. We can see seven very similar women (or the same woman seven times): one in a car, one reading a book on a bench, one looking out from a dark building etc.
A closeup of the book cover of 'Olenka' by Budi Darma, translated by Tiffany Tsao. The image is a drawing by Tom Gauld. A moonlit scene of an american suburban landscape. We can see seven very similar women (or the same woman seven times): one in a car, one reading a book on a bench, one looking out from a dark building etc.
I drew a cover for 'Olenka' by Budi Darma, translated by Tiffany Tsao. It's out in July but you can preorder it now. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/760272/olenka-by-budi-darma-translated-with-an-introduction-and-notes-by-tiffany-tsao/
Can you tell me who designed the cover please? :-)
Thank you to @casualoptimist.bsky.social for selecting two of my covers for January’s roundup. Once again, a bit late in posting. Thank you to Spine Magazine, too, for selecting The Aquatics for theirs.
Designer-turned-author Oliver Munday and designer Chris Brand discuss the creative process behind the cover of Oliver's new novel Head of Household
lithub.com/when-a-book-...
Beautiful illustration of a warrior on a horse, with a lance for a book cover.
Aleksander Lindeberg (1917-2015) - Russian Folk Tales (1960s). Born in Russia, Lindeberg was a Finnish illustrator who illustrated several books for children during the 60s and on.
#wardsmorguefile
The Case of the Green Covers is a risograph-printed zine that documents the history of the “Green Penguins”, “a series of hundreds of crime novels published with green covers by the UK publisher Penguin in the 1960s”. [justseeds.org]
The cover of the Feb 2, 2026 edition of the New Yorker, illustrated by Peter de Sève. The illustration. "New York's Toughest", is of a snowy New York street scene with food delivery bike riders carrying giant orange backpacks battling the elements.
'New York's Toughest" illustration by Peter de Sève for the February 2 edition of the New Yorker
"Targeted" cover illustration for the Feb 9, 2026 edition of The New Yorker by Till Lauer. The illustration is of a shooting range target silhouette in the shape of the Statue of Liberty riddled with bullet holes.
"Targeted" by Till Lauer for the cover of the latest issue of @newyorker.com
And here's Spine's latest Book Covers We Love post too:
spinemagazine.co/book-covers-...
ICYMI, here's this month's book cover of note!
www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2026/01...
Helen of Troy, 1993 by Maria Zoccola; design by Maddy Angstreich; art by Frederick Sandys (Scribner / January 2025)
Also, from last year…
Any Lee Bains fans over here?!
Art direction by me.
Cover photo by Matt White (using a sign we dug out of a barn in Arkansas)
In his debut poetry collection, Alabama poet and musician Lee Bains draws on his own experience at the intersection of work and food—the daily ritual of a workday lunch.
This is a really interesting selection. A lot of the covers you would expect, but still some surprises...
lithub.com/the-best-boo...
A look at some of the most beautiful and unusual examples from the first 100 years of the "modern" book cover, since the rise of publishers' bindings circa 1820: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/the-art-of-book-covers-1820-1914
The Moss by Lisa Lueddecke; design by Sarah Creech; art by Yorgos Cotronis (Simon & Schuster BYR / September 2025)
One of the Boys by Victoria Zeller; design by Casey Moses; cover art by Jon Stich (Levine Querido / May 2025)
Grave Flowers by Autumn Krause; cover art by Welder Wings (Peachtree Teen / September 2025)
I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang; design by Alex Niit; cover art by Kim Myatt (HarperCollins / January 2025)
Notable YA Covers of 2025 - this really is a post for fans of illustrated book covers:
www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2026/01...
#books #illustration #YA
Here's my look back at some of the YA book covers that caught my eye last year. There's a ton of great art and illustration - particularly fantasy and horror - if that's your thing...
www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2026/01...
