Beletrina book cover designs / Feb & Dec 2013 & February 2014
Recent book covers for the Beletrina imprint of the Slovene book publisher Beletrina Academic Press.
Beletrina book cover designs / April 2013
Recent book covers for the Beletrina imprint of the Slovene book publisher Beletrina Academic Press.
Beletrina book cover designs / Sep & Oct 2012 & February 2013
Recent book covers for the Beletrina imprint of the Slovene book publisher Beletrina Academic Press.
Beletrina book cover designs / July 2012
Recent book covers for the Beletrina imprint of the Slovene book publisher Beletrina Academic Press.
Beletrina book cover designs / June 2012
Recent book covers for the Beletrina imprint of the Slovene book publisher Beletrina Academic Press.
Beletrina book cover designs / March 2012
Recent book covers for the Beletrina imprint of the Slovene book publisher Beletrina Academic Press.
World Book Day 2012
Today is World Book Day in the UK, and I contributed a postcard to the Random Project to mark this occasion. The words related to the theme were: “Words”, “Dream”, “World” and “Imagine”. The postcard below is a response to the “Words”.
The hand-made letters were originally created for a public art installation – France Prešeren’s New Outfit – dressing the Slovene Romantic poet in a huge cloak, whose monument stands in the main square in Ljubljana. The project was created for the Festival Fabula 2010, run by a literary book publisher Študentska založba, as the central event of Ljubljana time as UNESCO World Book Capital 2010. I have created over 200 book covers for the publisher since 2007, hence my naughty play on the usual phrase “Don’t judge a book by its cover”.
World Book Day (World Book and Copyright Day) is a yearly event organised by UNESCO to promote reading, publishing and copyright. It is a celebration of authors, illustrators and books. According to the UK World Book Day, the main aim of today in the UK and Ireland is to encourage children of all ages to come together in order to explore the pleasure of books and reading by providing them with a £1 token against the purchase of a book from the list. The organisation will send these tokens to schools that participate in World Book Day.
According to Wikimedia, World Book Day was celebrated for the first time on 23 April. The connection between this date and books was first made in 1923 by Spanish booksellers to honour the author Miguel de Cervantes in the Catalonian festival who died on that day.
In 1995 UNESCO decided that World Book Day would be celebrated on that day, as the source say, because of the Catalonian festival and because the date is also the anniversary of the birth and death of William Shakespeare, the death of Carvantes, Inca Garcilaso de la Vega and Josep Pia, and the birth of Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov, Manuel Mejíla Vallejo and Halldór Laxness.
The date for World Book Day however differs from country to country. In the UK and the Republic of Ireland is held annually on the first Thursday in March as the established international 23 April would clash with Easter school holidays and as the 23 April is also the National Saint’s day of England, St George’s Day.
World Book Day is not funded by the British government. The funding for activities mainly comes from the major sponsor, National Book Tokens, and the UK book trade (publishers and booksellers).
So much more important that books still get published in hard copies. Cheers.
Beletrina book cover designs / November 2011
Recent book covers for the Beletrina imprint of the Slovene book publisher Beletrina Academic Press.
Children’s Picture Book: Barvice / Feb 2011
Children’s picture book of poetry on 12 colours by Feri Lainšček and illustrated and designed by Andreja Brulc, called Barvice (Coloured Pencils), was released by a Slovene publisher Franc-Franc.
The book is part of a multimedia project for children called World of Colours. The project, which will take place next year in conjunction with Maribor 2012, European City of Culture, will be carried out by a group of four people: Feri Lainšček, Janja Vidmar, Benka Pulko and Andreja Brulc.
I responded directly to each poem and each colour is treated on a separate double-page spread. The book was therefore very complex and ambitious. It demanded considerable technical skills, including understanding of 6-colour print technology as the book includes gold and silver inks.
The illustrations are, I believe, highly innovative and original – a view supported by reviews. They show a variety of technical skills, not only in construction but also in using mixed media, combining various techniques, including drawing, photography collaging, photomontaging and digital manipulation. The process involved a cut and paste technique of many pieces of paper in various tones, patterns and textures, representing the 12 colours. Many papers used were from my collection and included recycled paper shopping bags and napkins, collected during various travels around the world over the years. I also used inks and scrim tape in order to achieve the desired textures and colours. Shapes were pasted or collaged together in order to construct each element of the image in a playful way.
The book was one of the five books nominated for Večernica and Desetnica (2011), the two highest awards for children’s and youth’s literature in Slovenia. The book was named ‘Book of the Month’ (March 2011) by Lunin Festival, one of most important children’s festivals in Slovenia.
Interesting and vivid illustrations … incorporate different kind of images as a whole, both from the point of technique (photography, cut out images, drawing) and from the point of selected motives (a visual translation of the poet’s words).
– Dragica Haramija & Janja Batič, Sodobnost 10 (2013): 1450–1452
I enjoyed from the start how Andreja followed and understood my verse, which she then interpreted and included in her own visual way of thinking. The result was new networks of meanings and symbols, perhaps even artistic expression that goes beyond literary and visual art.
– Feri Lainšček, quoted in Zdenko Kodrič, Večer (Večernica), 22 Sep 2011
… more than wonderful …
– Zdenko Kodrič, Večer (Večernica), 22 Sep 2011
Her first children’s book embraces the poetry in a sophisticated and artistic manner, and has caught the rhythm of Lainšček’s literary thoughts …
– Liljana Klemenčič, Večer, 4 July 2011
… highly innovative and exploratory …
– Sensa (Za navdih), 3 Feb 2011
The picture book is one of the five books (out of 261 books) nominated for Večernica on 14 June 2011. Večernica is the most prestigious award for youth literature in Slovenia. The results will be announced in Sep 2011.
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