Emily Mahon, Rodrigo Corral and Na Kim Top Lit Hub's October Covers

Lit Hub has named ten winners in its monthly ranking of the best book covers, and Emily Mahon's design for Frank Huyler's The Red Dress leads the October list. The column praised it as "a brilliant approach to a descriptive title." Bellevue Literary Press published the novel on October 6.

The monthly survey, which rounds up standout jacket design across US and UK publishing, described this crop as light on Halloween spookiness but strong on "clever color stories, delicious textures, and a little bit of cheek."

Which covers made the cut?

The full October selection, with designers, publishers and publication dates as listed by Lit Hub:

• Frank Huyler, The Red Dress — design by Emily Mahon (Bellevue Literary Press, October 6)
• Kawai Strong Washburn, The Names of the New World — design by Rodrigo Corral (FSG, October 6)
• Barbara Kingsolver, Partita — design by Robin Bilardello (Harper, October 6)
• Nafissa Thompson-Spires, The Four Wives and Five Deaths of Richard Milford — design by Dana Li (Scribner, October 6)
• Anjet Daanje, The Song of Stork and Dromedary, translated by David McKay — design by Tom Etherington (Scribe UK, October 8)
• Will Maclean, Solace House — design by Holly Battle (Grove, October 13)
• Julian Tepper, Getting Even/Letting Go — design by Emil Spiegel (Rare Bird Books, October 20)
• Pol Guasch, Paradise Burns, translated by Mara Faye Lethem — design by Sarah Schulte (Peninsula Press, October 29)
• Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nathaniel Hawthorne: Parables, Fantasies, Fragments, edited by Robert S. Levine (Library of America, October 27)
• Anthony Roth Costanzo, Countertenor — design by Na Kim (FSG, October 27)

What does the column actually praise?

The judgments turn on craft, not celebrity. Washburn's cover, by Rodrigo Corral, earned notice for "gorgeous colors and hand lettering." Robin Bilardello's jacket for Kingsolver's Partita drew a sharper observation: "I love when a cover shifts almost imperceptibly from figurative to abstract as you look at it." Dana Li's design for Thompson-Spires was cited for "great concept and color story, even better texture."

Two UK editions made the list. Tom Etherington's cover for Daanje's The Song of Stork and Dromedary was called "even more mysterious" than the US version, which appeared on the same column's August list. The verdict: "I'm crazy about the folding." Sarah Schulte's UK jacket for Guasch's Paradise Burns drew the line "I love those blurred red shorts!"

Who are the designers to watch?

Na Kim's cover for the countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo's memoir Countertenor received the column's most animated praise. It "looks simple, but it's fairly daring — and incredibly charming — to place the text this way," the reviewer wrote. "A visual yodel!"

Holly Battle's melting-image design for Maclean's Solace House got a measured appraisal: the devolution of an image into "melty sludge" is "not a new idea for book covers, but is used to great effect here."

Emil Spiegel's vintage-patina treatment of Tepper's Getting Even/Letting Go carries a note of advocacy. "I'm a sucker for a vintage patina. Bring us back!" the column reads. Spiegel has redesigned Tepper's entire backlist in the same style.

The Library of America's Hawthorne volume, the only entry without a named designer, was praised as "a simple idea, well executed, and perfect for the book at hand."

October 6 dominates the list, with four of the ten covers published on a single day. Designers seeking signals for the season will find them here: hand lettering, figuration sliding into abstraction, and deliberate vintage wear all cleared the bar in one month.