Cover Meeting with Charlotte Abrams Simpson
Cover Meeting
Charlotte Abrams Simpson is one of the Art Directors at the Orion publishing group. She left Wolverhampton and moved to London at 18 to pursue her passion for art and design – studying at Central St Martins and the University for Creative Arts Epsom. Predominantly designing for the leading commercial titles for authors such as Anton Du Beke, Lorraine Kelly and Veronica Henry. Her experience spans 18 years working in-house and freelance for UK major publishing houses including Harper Collins and Penguin Random House. Charlotte was also nominated for Designer of the Year at the British Book...
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Cover Meeting with Craig Oldham
Cover Meeting
has been named by his peers as one of the most influential designers working in the UK, and has written books on a range of topics, including education, visual culture, film, and politics. He runs his eponymous and pedagogic creative practice, Office Of Craig, in Manchester and he’s also the creative director of Rough Trade Books. Selected Books: Leeds Postcards (Four Corners Books) 2018. Oh Shit What Now?! (Laurence King) 2018. They Live: A Visual and Cultural Awakening (Rough Trade Books) 2019. The Shining: A Visual and Cultural Haunting (Rough Trade Books) 2022. In Loving Memory Of Work...
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Cover Meeting with Sarah Wasley
Cover Meeting
Sarah Wasley is the Production Director and Design Director of Granta Books. Sarah began her career at The Women’s Press in 1987 as a receptionist and sales assistant, before moving to Quartet Books in the early 90s. There, she worked as an assistant in production, rights, and publicity. She later progressed to Production Manager, where she was based in the design studio, gaining invaluable insight into the cover design process—experience that helped her secure her current role at Granta Books, where she has been since 2000. Sarah’s role is a hybrid of Production Director and...
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Cover Meeting with Jack Smyth
Cover Meeting
In the first episode of season 2, we speak with – a freelance designer and illustrator from Ireland. His clients include Penguin Random House, Faber & Faber, Harpercollins, Granta, Daunt Books, Simon & Schuster, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Politico and The Atlantic. He has previously worked inhouse at 4th Estate, Simon & Schuster, Little, Brown and Tower Records and holds an MA in Graphic Design from Kingston University. In 2024, he was named the designer of the year at the British Book Awards. He has received 9 ABCD awards, a BBDPA award and has been featured in...
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Cover Meeting with Tree Abraham
Cover Meeting
In this last episode of Season One, we speak with – a brilliant book designer, illustrator and writer. Tree was born and raised in Ottawa, Canada before studying graphic design in the UK and interning at various publishers in London. Tree then went on to work in New York City where she’s been ever since, working for Abrams, Bloomsbury and Grand Central Publishing. Tree is now an Art Director for Amazon Publishing. Tree is also a writer and her first book came out in 2022. We speak about studying in the UK, what it’s like living and working in New York City, Tree’s process, working...
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Cover Meeting with Suzanne Dean
Cover Meeting
Suzanne Dean is a Creative Director who has worked at for over twenty years. She has created covers for iconic titles and bestsellers from The Handmaid’s Tale, Entangled Life and Sapiens to H is for Hawk, Atonement and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. She’s also worked with a wide range of fantastic authors including Haruki Murakami, Toni Morrison and Julian Barnes. Her designs have been recognised by many, including the ABCD awards, The British Book Design and Production Awards and the V&A Illustration Awards. This...
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Cover Meeting with Mike Dempsey
Cover Meeting
has been a practising graphic designer since 1964. From the late sixties he worked as an Art Director for two leading British publishing houses. In 1979 he founded the design consultancy Carroll & Dempsey, which later became CDT Design Ltd. His work has earned him many awards and in 2012 he was presented with a special Black Pencil for the most awarded designer in D&AD’s 50-year history. He’s acted as Design Advisor to the Department of Culture Media & Sport, was appointed consultant Art Director by the Royal Mail to create the two-year Millennium stamp programme...
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Cover Meeting with Jamie Keenan
Cover Meeting
Jamie Keenan is a book cover designer who has been freelancing since setting up his own studio in 1998. He has since designed covers for Stephen King, Joyce Carol Oates, Philip Pullman, A M Homes, Franz Kafka, Tess Gunty and thousands of others. Jamie also co-founded the (ABCD) awards along with Jon Gray. The awards have been running since 2014 and has helped bring the cover design community together to celebrate the fantastic work that’s being done by designers in the UK. You can see a selection of Jamie’s work on his website and follow him on Twitter or over on Instagram . To...
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Cover Meeting with Zoe Norvell
Cover Meeting
Zoe Norvell has been in the book publishing world since she graduated from the Pratt Institute in 2011. Her very first job was an internship with Rodrigo Corral’s studio. From there, she worked at Simon & Schuster before moving to Penguin Random House. In 2015, she left to become a full-time freelancer. In 2022 she launched a new subdivision of her book business that focuses on book interiors. This section of her business can be found at . In 2023, she launched , a website that acts as both a comprehensive directory (featuring nearly 300 book cover designers) but also an archive...
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Cover Meeting with James Jones
Cover Meeting
James Jones is an award-winning art director, designer and illustrator who freelances for publishers all over the world. James has worked at Orion Publishing Group, Vintage Books, and as Art Director at both Oneworld Publications and Head of Zeus. His work has been recognised by the American Institute of Graphic Arts, the Type Directors Club, Design Observer, The Academy of British Cover Design and the World Illustration Awards. James is also the illustrator of several picture books including The Perfect Fit, One More Try and The Odd Fish. To see James’ work head to his...
info_outlineIn this episode Cover Meeting speaks with Micaela Alcaino, a book cover designer and illustrator who relocated from her home in Sydney, Australia to London in 2013.
Selected as one of The Booksellers Rising Stars of 2021, named Designer of the Year at the British Book Awards 2022, and named in The Bookseller 150 most influential people in publishing in 2022, she has almost a decade of experience in her field working for both Penguin Random House and HarperCollins, before venturing into the world of freelancing in 2018.
She currently works on projects in collaboration with most of the big publishing houses worldwide. Her work is characterized by a unique blend of creativity and artistry, shaped by her love of travel, mixed cultural heritage, and appreciation of the fine arts.
In the episode we talk about life as a freelancer, the process behind creating covers and the research that goes into it, artificial intelligence and it's potential impact on book cover design and publishing and publishing's diversity problem.
You can read Micaela's recent article on artificial intelligence here.
Micaela also mention DPI when we were discussing the lack of diversity in publishing. DPI as an impactful mentorship initiative based in the UK for under-represented creatives and have assembled leading designers across the publishing industry as mentors. Their mission is supporting creatives from under-represented groups to develop the skills and acumen to pursue a career in the world of book design, while also offering existing designers in the industry advice on career progression. Visit their website to find out more.
Cover Meeting was hosted by Steve Leard and produced by James Ede of beheard.org.uk.