Peekash Press Chapbooks

Creative direction and graphic design of a series of chapbooks by emerging Caribbean writers

My book design practice centres around art/ design/ illustrated books, so Peekash Press remains an outlier – they are still the only publisher of literary works on my design client roster. I’ve designed the interior templates and covers of a handful of their titles, including So Many Islands and, most recently, Unstitching Silence. I’ve always enjoyed this quick detour from my typical design work, so I was happy when editor Nicholas Laughlin asked me if I would consider designing seven chapbooks – excerpts of longer works-in-progress by emerging Caribbean writers.

We knew that the titles would be released over time (start of 2024 to end of 2025), so some extra care was put in at the beginning to set up a flexible template for the 16- or 20-page interiors. I once again leaned on the typeface Freight due to its large family and elegance in readability, plus I have a series crush on its Book Italics. Meanwhile, the covers became a place to play. Usually, my covers for Peekash involve selecting a work of Caribbean art but, this time, in order to keep costs down for Peekash and within the project grant budget, I selected vintage illustrations based on the overall theme of each chapbook, or a detail that I picked up from reading the works. The duotone treatment kept things bright, with alternating colours on the interiors. The result is a series that pairs vibrancy with our simultaneous commonalities and uniqueness.

SUMMARY | Role: Creative Direction and Graphic Design
Publisher: Peekash Press
Series editor: Nicholas Laughlin
Books: About Kingston, by Amílcar Peter Sanatan; The Birthday Cake, by Rajiv Ramkhalawan; Girl School, by Rhea Manley; The House of Never, by Stephanie Koathes; Jurassic Coast, by Jannine Horsford; Tourism Is Our Business, by Heather Barker; Yellow Is Not For Girls Like Me, by June Aming
Printed in T&T by Office Authority
Typeface: Freight
Book photos: Michele Jorsling