Books Q&A

You should judge a book by its cover

Anna Brown is the supreme winner of this year’s Book Design Awards, her cover of Conversa¯tio¯ –

In the company of bees, won both Best Book and Best Illustrated Book. Judges described it as a ‘‘ravishing blend of science, art, and book design’’.

I have been designing books since I left design school in 2001 and it has been my love from the beginning. When I left design school the people I admired were Sarah Maxey and Catherine Griffiths, two amazing New Zealand book designers. I was thrilled when one of my first jobs was typesetting on Rosemary McLeod’s Thrift to Fantasy book with Sarah. Book design requires a curious and intelligent mind because you have to understand the content and the author or artist’s intent and translate it into something visual that will also be engaging for a reader. I’m excited to see some young and culturally diverse designers coming up the ranks in this space, such as Te Kani Price (who was named the 2022 Hachette Aotearoa New Zealand Emerging Designer at the awards) and Aakifa Chida, a recent graduate from AUT.

What makes the perfect book cover?

A perfect cover is an embodiment of everything that is inside the book. It has to be eyecatching. For most book buyers, publishers and booksellers that is the entry into the book. The thing I really enjoy about Conversa¯tio¯ is that it’s a very tactile cover. You want someone to pick it up, to feel it, to open it. You can never divorce a book cover from its contents – it should be a package and the two should be in concert with each other.

Judges described Conversa¯ tio¯ – In the company of bees’ cover as ‘‘a cabinet of wonder’’. What made this book special to you?

A cabinet of wonder is a perfect metaphor for this book. The centre piece is [author] Anne’s apiscope work in the Queensland Art Gallery and it was very deliberate to put that in the centre as it is the culmination of 10 years of her work. We interspersed photographs with text giving each space to do their work. That’s a relationship where each form uplifts the other. This book was an 18 month project in conversation with Anne and Zara.