Art Direction
& Graphic Design
My visual practice is equal parts intuition and play. I believe in design that empowers and delights, comforts and excites and I begin every project by becoming attuned to the sensory fabric of a client, brand or publication. An antique perfume bottle hoarder and lover of perfectly cracked Penguin book spines, I live for the wild quiet of being underwater in the Indian Ocean and smoggy city centres, blending typography, texture & found imagery with pencil & ink.
Book Covers
BOOK COVER DESIGN, ARTWORK, TYPESETTING & LAYOUT
I’ve been creating book cover art for authors and publishers across the African continent since 2010. It’s been an honour playing a role in the creative process of so many collections of poetry, short fiction and novels, many of which are written by critically-acclaimed authors and have gone on to win literary prizes and be bestsellers.
I have created work for Modjaji Books, Blackird Books, Short Story Day Africa, Paivapo Publishers, deep south publishers, Karavan Press and Black Letter Media. I am also the production manager at South Africa’s oldest literary journal, New Contrast.
LATEST COVERS
‘DISRUPTION: New Short Fiction from Africa’ | the latest Short Story Day Africa Award anthology | Edited by Rachel Zadok, Karina Szczurek & Jason Mykl Snyman
Exhale is a collection of erotic fiction from fresh queer African voices published by Black Bird Books & HOLAAfrica!
“In Corridors of Death, the lived experiences of Black students in historically White universities is explored, exposing how structural violence, racism and a culture of alienation are pushing them to the edge of depression and increasingly, suicide.”
We, the Scarred
Novel by Mukoma wa Ngugi
Published by Paivapo Publishers, 2020.
Agringada: Like a Gringa, Like a Foreigner
The Short Story is Dead. Long Live the Short Story. Vol. 2.
A selection of short stories by African writers. Published by Black Letter Media (2017).
The Short Story is Dead. Long Live the Short Story. Vol 4.
A selection of short stories by African writers. Published by Black Letter Media (2017).
This Day
A novel by Tiah Beautement. Published by Modjaji Books in 2014 and reissued with this updated cover in 2020.
“It's not surprising that the poet Megan Ross designed the cover for Zhuwao's Sunrise Poison, which is a picture of torn notes, roses, and toxic clouds. Both writers are obsessed with imagery of breaking and exploding bodies. In her essay "Monstrous" from the anthology Selves, Ross writes about the inspiration behind her poetry collection Milk Fever. "The collection grew from the word corpse, a word I wrote in an old journal on the day postpartum women are told to expect the onset of baby blues." It's an essay that reflects what the editor sees as one of the strengths of the book, a fearlessness the writers have of "going where it hurts."
— Tadiwa Madenga for OkayAfrica
Sunrise Poison
Poems by the late Phillip Zhuwao. Published by deep south publishers (2018).
“ZHUWAO’S WORK HAS THIS UNFORGIVING, ALMOST SCHIZOPHRENIC QUALITY TO IT: IT’S LIKE MANIC CINEMA AND IT’S ALL HAPPENING AT ONCE, AND WHEN YOU’RE DONE, IT’S AS IF SOMETHING HAS EXPLODED: A WORLD VIEW, A DISASTER, AN EMOTION, A SMALL ROOM WHERE A MAN SLEPT, ALONE,” THE POET AND ILLUSTRATOR, MEGAN ROSS, SAID ABOUT THE INSPIRATION BEHIND THE COVER IMAGE OF SUNRISE POISON. THE IMAGE HAS BROKEN BITS OF ROSES, RAZOR WIRE, NOTEBOOK PAPER, AND BLACK CLOUDS. THE CLOUDS COULD BE SMUDGES OF INK OR AN INCOMING STORM, BOTH WARNINGS THAT NO VIOLENCE GOES UNNOTICED.”
- TADIWA MADENGA | BLANK VERSE IN FREEDOM’S THINKING
Hotel Africa: New Short Fiction from Africa
Check in to hear a chorus of irresistible voices -- from Cameroon to Zambia, from Egypt to Malawi.
The latest Short Story Day Africa anthology. Published by New Internationalist (2019).
A Person My Colour: Love Adoption and Parenting While White
Martina Dahlmanns,
Modjaji Books, 2017
Poetry Potion 11: Love and Compassion
A selection of poems by African writers. Published by Black Letter Media (2017).
ID Identity: New Short Fiction from Africa
Published by Short Story Day Africa and edited by Helen Moffett, Otieno Owino and Nebila Abdulmelik (2018).
I’m the Girl Who Was Raped
A memoir by Michelle Hattingh. Published by Modjaji Books (2016).
Unsettled
Short fiction by Sandra Hill. Published by Modjaji Books (2015).
The Attribution of Poetry
Poems by Elisa Galgut. Published by Modjaji Books (2015).