The item beside this text is an advertisement

QUILLBLOG

Filed under: Opinion, , ,

Related posts

No related posts.

A few favourite CanLit covers

Entertainment Weekly recently compiled a list of the 25 most memorable book covers from the past 25 years. Their list is slightly skewed toward ubiquitous mega-designer Chip Kidd, who scores six entries. The lone Canadian reference is Fred Marcellino’s 1986 cover for Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

We thought we’d play along by starting a list of our own favourite CanLit covers.

Below, you’ll find five picks from the bookshelf of Q&Q art director Gary Campbell. These bold, daring, and memorable covers grabbed him straight away, regardless of the title or the author’s name.

Bookseller The Bookseller
Matt Cohen
(Knopf Canada)
Designed by Gordon Robertson, 1993
MissWyoming Miss Wyoming
Douglas Coupland
(Random House Canada)
Designed by John Gall, 1999
ThisAllHappened This All Happened
Michael Winter
(House of Anansi Press)
Designed by Bill Douglas, 2001
NotWantedOnVoyage Not Wanted On The Voyage
Timothy Findley
(Penguin Books Canada)
Designed by Soapbox Design Communications, 2006
BoysInTrees The Boys In The Trees
Mary Swan
(Henry Holt)
Designed by Lisa Fyfe, 2008
  • Miss May

    I have to say that the Miss Wyoming cover is one of my absolute fave covers of all time. Perfection.

  • angel guerra

    Love This All Happened. Anything by Bill Douglas. You can start the resurrection of the House of Anansi Press with the joining of forces between then publisher Martha Sharpe and Bill Douglas.

  • http://storms.typepad.com patricia

    I concur. Bill Douglas rocks. He was my hero in design school.

  • http://www.diningwithdeath.ca zophia2007

    And speaking of favourite covers, what do you think about the idea of creating a series of covers to brand a common look and feel?. McClelland & Stewart has done a great job with The New Canadian Library. Some of the covers are gorgeous and the clean look is very attractive. http://www.mcclelland.com/NCL/index.html

    Yet, somehow I feel cheated. Are the stories overshadowed by the marketing? Will booksellers line them up like boxes of cereal? Do readers collect books like kids collect hockey cards, because they look nice? I don’t know.

    For me, the covers tell half the story – up front. I’m afraid that if I see a shelf of the new New Canadian Library covers I’ll float by it.

    With that said, keep on featuring your favourite covers. Keep reminding us about the unique talents of Canadian cover designers, who make Canadian covers unique.

    Kathleen Molloy, author – Dining with Death
    http://www.diningwithdeath.ca
    http://www.kathleenmolloy.offo.ca
    http://www.lamortaumenu.ca

  • Dummy Blogger

    While the Penguin Modern Classics can be eye-catching and sleek–and that kitty definitely has a just-watch-me face–I do find their series tends to reek a bit too much of “look, i had a really good time clicking through photonica, corbis, and the like.”

    None of the other covers here are really to my taste, although the Swan could be something in person. The screen captures don’t always do justice. If you want extreme spareness, try the hardcover jacket of Bill Douglas’s Pornographer’s Poem. BTW, it looks like Bill is currently repurposing Little Debbie boxes in his gallery.

The item directly under this text is an advertisement
Books of the year
Click to see Books of the Year 2011 package Click to see Books of the Year 2010 package Click to see Books of the Year 2009 package
Most shared stories this week
Book Pictures

Do you have great photos from a recent book event in Canada that you'd like to share with us? Submit them to the Quill & Quire Flickr pool and they'll show up here.

a congrats to all

Rage

Jenna Tenn-Yuk

breaktime interviewing

interviewing

Danielle K.L. Gregoire

Sepideh

Elle P

sound poetry

Anita

Frances

winning

Recent comments