a word from the
publisher
A
COVER STORIES
main character in Donna Tartt’s Pulitzer-winning The Goldfinch is the painting of the same name by Carel Fabritius (1622-54). At an art museum, young Theo and his mother contemplate the work: “’Anyway, if you ask me,’ my mother was saying, ‘this is the most extraordinary picture in the whole show. Fabritius is making clear something that he discovered all on his own, that no painter in the world knew before him—not even Rembrandt.’” The popularity of the book has led to renewed interest in Fabritius, such that an exhibit of the painting at the Frick Collection in New York City last fall drew record crowds to the museum. Book jacket designer Keith Hayes used the image in creating The Goldfinch’s cover, which elegantly and cleverly veils a painting of a chained bird, hinting at secrets, drama, and beauty. “After reading the manuscript, it was the one singular image that kept coming back to me. The painting wrapped in paper, coveted by its new owner,” says Hayes in our interview. We also talk to a few other book cover designers in this issue to uncover, if you will, how they go about their work. I also want to note that we’ve added a new sponsor, Blurb, and additional prizes to our Third Annual Writing Competition for Best Independently Published Book, sponsored by Bowker and Blurb. If you’ve self-published or independently published a book, I hope you will consider entering. We look forward to featuring the winner, five finalists, and more than 100 notable books from the competition in our December/January 2015 issue. Details are here: www.shelfmediagroup.com/pages/competition.html. Margaret Brown publisher
4
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2014
Photograph: Belinda Baldwin