The cover design for Lisa Kutz’s The Swallows, was one of those special experiences where my first round ended up including the final cover, every last detail was on that initial comp. When does that happen? Almost never, for me at least!

I dove into the manuscript not knowing what to expect - Lisa’s book was a very surprising read! A new writing teacher arrives at a small boarding school, and gives the students an unusual writing exercise. The results reveal some troubling things, and hint at a dark underbelly to the charming school and town. Without giving much away, there is a bird theme to this darkness, and a lot of tension between the genders. The swallow bird seemed an obvious place to start. But I knew this had to be a bit more than a pretty bird cover, especially since it is really not about birds.