The Curators: a novel (2024) book cover design

The book cover design of Maggie Nye’s debut novel, The Curators (Northwestern University Press), uses a collage aesthetic to invoke historical trauma, archival materiality, and speculative storytelling.

In 1915 all of Atlanta is obsessed with the two-years-long trial and subsequent lynching of Jewish superintendent Leo Frank. None more so than Ana Wulf and her four young friends, who form a clubhouse-turned-Leo Frank museum in Ana’s attic on the Jewish southside of town. They call themselves the Felicitous Five: sworn to protect and represent the true story of Leo Frank, even after the news cycle has moved on. In a desperate effort to keep Frank present, they take history into their own hands—quite literally—when they build and animate a golem in Frank’s image. But their creation has consequences that extend beyond the clubhouse attic walls. This debut novel, which infuses historical fiction with magical realism, gives an unlikely voice to historical trauma.

Early Iteration

This cover design juxtaposes fragmented letterforms, historical photography from "The Atlanta Constitution," and cut-out figures to evoke the spectral presence of Leo Frank’s lynching. Tracked out and layered typography suggest contested histories, while the interplay of obscured faces and childhood imagery reflects both innocence and its corruption through dangerous obsessions. Into this archival reconstruction, language is positioned as both a site of power and instability in speculative historical fiction.

Drafts

Final Design

To purchase the novel, visit the publisher’s website here.