Best Book Covers 2017

With a wide range of styles, colors, layouts, typography and concepts, these are the book covers that have caught my eye and sparked my imagination in the past year! This list of the best book covers 2017 is a collection of my personal favorites.

My hands-down favorite is the cover for Dandelions written by Yasunari Kawabata (one of my most beloved authors) and designed by Peter Mendelsund. I was particularly drawn to a number of minimalist compositions including Nicotine designed by John Gall, along with The Idiot and The Kites designed by Oliver Munday.

Some other favorites for their tactile qualities included Hollow designed by Matt Dorfman and Pachinko the designer of whom is still a mystery I’m dying to solve. I was also drawn to the bold typography and color palettes used in A Separation designed by Jaya Miceli and Flesh and Bone and Water designed Lauren Peters-Collaer.

Please note: I’ve tried my best to credit all the incredible designers, artists, illustrators, typographers, photographers and art directors responsible for these book cover designs. However some details are harder to find than others. If you can help with any incorrect or missing details please let me know in the comments!

Best Book Covers 2017

1984 by George Orwell, cover design by Mark Robinson (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

A Book of American Martyrs by Joyce Carol Oates, cover design by Anna Morrison (4th Estate)

A Good Country by Laleh Khadivi, cover design by Patti Ratchford (Bloomsbury)

A Life of Adventure and Delight by Akhil Sharma, cover design by Alex Kirby (Faber and Faber)

A Selfie as Big as the Ritz by Lara Williams, cover design by Janet Hansen, cover art by Nathan Manire (Flatiron Books)

A Separation by Katie Kitamura, cover design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead)

Abandon Me: Memoirs by Melissa Febos, cover design by Patti Ratchford (Bloomsbury)

All We Saw: Poems by Anne Michaels, cover design by Janet Hansen, cover photo by Jouke Bos (Knopf)

Autumn by Ali Smith, cover design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon)

Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou, cover design by Jon Gray (Serpent’s Tail)

Borne by Jeff Vandermeer, cover design by Rodrigo Corral and Tyler Comrie (MCD / Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

** Boy Erased: A Memoir of Identity, Faith, and Family by Garrard Conley (Riverhead)

Dandelions by Yasunari Kawabata, cover design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions)

Do Not Bring Him Water by Caitlin Scarano, cover design by Zoe Norvell (Write Bloody Publishing)

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman, cover design by Jaya Miceli (Pamela Doorman Books / Viking)

Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal, cover design by Holly MacDonald (William Morrow)

Everything I Don’t Remember by Jonas Hassen Khemiri, cover design by Donna Cheng (Washington Square Press)

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid, cover design by Rachel Willey (Riverhead)

Flesh and Bone and Water by Luiza Sauma, cover design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner)

Go, Went, Gone by Jenny Erpenbeck, cover design by Rodrigo Corral (New Directions)

Goodbye, Things: On Minimalist Living by Fumio Sasaki, cover design by Tom Etherington (Penguin)

Goodbye, Vitamin by Rachel Khong, cover design by Karen Horton (Henry Holt and Co)

Hollow by Owen Egerton, cover design by Matt Dorfman (Counterpoint)

Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, cover design by Ben Denzer, typography by Grace Han (Riverhead)

How to Behave in a Crowd by Camille Bordas, cover design by Christopher Brand (Tim Duggan Books)

** I’d Die for You and Other Lost Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Scribner)

** Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Hector Garcia Puigcerver (Penguin)

** Inferior by Angela Saini (Fourth Estate)

Lagom: The Swedish Secret of Living Well by Lola Akinmade Åkerström, cover design and illustration by Sinem Erkas (Headline Home)

Less by Andrew Sean Greer, illustration by Leo Espinosa, cover design by Julianna Lee (Lee Boudreaux Books)

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng, cover design by Jaya Miceli (Penguin)

Living in the Weather of the World: Stories by Richard Bausch, cover design by Janet Hansen (Knopf)

Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran, cover design by Stephen Brayda (G.P. Putnam’s Sons)

Ms Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami, cover design by Nathan Burton (Pushkin Press)

My Cat Yugoslavia by Pajtim Statovci, cover design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon)

Nicotine by Gregor Hens, cover design by John Gall (Other Press)

Often I Am Happy by Jens Christian Grøndahl, cover design by Justine Anweiler (Picador)

Out in the Open by Jesús Carrasco, cover design by Ben Denzer (Riverhead)

** Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (Grand Central Publishing)

** Refuge by Dina Nayeri (Riverhead)

She Beyond Sun by Daniel Gargallo, cover design by Ben Denzer (Driscoll and Woodhams)

Sing Unburied Sing by Jesmyn Ward, cover design by David Mann (Bloomsbury)

Stay with Me by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀, cover design by Janet Hansen (Knopf)

Strange Heart Beating by Eli Goldstone, cover design by Jo Walker (Granta)

** Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa (Oneworld)

Swimmer Among the Stars: Stories by Kanishk Tharoor, cover design by Tyler Comrie (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

The Amazing Story of the Man Who Cycled from India to Europe for Love by Per J. Andersson, cover illustration by Neil Gower, art direction by James Jones (Oneworld)

** The Awkward Age by Francesca Segal (Riverhead)

The Blot by Jonathan Lethem, cover design by Jon Gray (Jonathan Cape)

The Book of Disquiet: The Complete Edition by Fernando Pessoa, cover design by Peter Mendelsund (New Directions)

** The Burning Girl by Claire Messud (W.W. Norton & Company)

** The Course of Love by Alain de Botton (Penguin)

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy, cover design by Helen Crawford-White, embroidery by her mother Jane Crawford-White (Pushkin Press)

The Dying Detective by Leif G.W. Persson, cover design by Oliver Munday (Pantheon)

The Good People by Hannah Kent, cover design by Lauren Harms (Little, Brown and Company)

The Graybar Hotel by Curtis Dawkins, cover design by Pete Adlington (Canongate)

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, cover illustration by Patrik Svensson, art direction by Christopher Moisan (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

The House of the Dead: Siberian Exile Under the Tsars by Daniel Beer, cover design by Oliver Munday (Alfred A. Knopf)

The Idiot by Elif Batuman, cover design by Oliver Munday (Penguin)

The Illustrious House of Ramires by Eça de Queirós, cover design by Joan Wong (New Directions)

** The King Is Always Above the People: Stories by Daniel Alarcón (Riverhead)

The Kites by Romain Gary, cover design by Oliver Munday (New Directions)

The Leavers by Lisa Ko, cover design by my dear friend Elena Giavaldi (Algonquin)

The Limits of Whiteness: Iranian Americans and the Everyday Politics of Race by Neda Maghbouleh, cover design by Anne Jordan and Mitch Goldstein (Standford University Press)

The Lucky Ones by Julianne Pachico, cover design by Luke Bird (Faber and Faber)

The Night Ocean by Paul La Farge, cover design by Will Staehle (Penguin)

The Ninth Hour by Alice McDermott, cover design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

** The Optimist by Sophie Kipner (Unbound)

The Red-Haired Woman by Orhan Pamuk, cover design by Alex Kirby (Faber and Faber)

The Resurrection of Joan Ashby by Cherise Wolas, cover design by Keith Hayes (Flatiron Books)

** The Rules Do Not Apply by Ariel Levy (Random House)

The Secret Life: Three True Stories of the Digital Age by Andrew O’Hagan, cover design by Alex Merto (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

** The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair (Penguin)

The Strays by Emily Bitto, cover design by Jennifer Carrow (Hamish Hamilton)

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See, cover design by Lauren Peters-Collaer (Scribner)

** The Upstairs Room by Kate Murray-Browne (Picador)

The Weight of Things by Marianne Fritz, cover design by Erik Carter, art direction by Andy Pressman (Verso)

The Whole Beautiful World: Stories by Melissa Kuipers, cover design by Tree Abraham (Brindle Glass)

The World Goes On by László Krasznahorkai, cover design by Paul Sahre (New Directions)

The Wrong Way to Save Your Life: Essays by Megan Stielstra, cover design by Joanne O’Neill, photograph by Garry Gay (Harper Perennial)

** Things Are What You Make of Them: Life Advice for Creatives by Adam J. Kurtz (TarcherPerigee)

Things That Helped: Essays by Jessica Friedmann, cover design by Allison Colpoys (Scribe)

Turtles All the Way Down by John Green, cover design by Rodrigo Corral and Zak Tebbal, typography by June Park (Dutton)

Welcome to Lagos by Chibundu Onuzo, cover illustration by Bill Bragg (Faber and Faber)

What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah, cover design by Jaya Miceli (Riverhead)

What We Lose by Zinzi Clemmons, cover design by Nayon Cho (Penguin)

What do you think of these book cover designs?

What do you think of this list of best book covers 2017? Are any of your favorites missing? Do you have any recommendations to add? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this list of best book covers 2017 in the comments below! 

Looking for more on book design?

If you’re looking for more about book design, see these related articles:

• Best Book Covers 2019
• Penguin English Library: The Complete List
• Best Book Covers 2018
• Penguin Clothbound Classics: The Complete List
• Best Book Covers 2017