When Art Director Brian Moore asked me to design this cover, both the title and manuscript were still unfinalized, but he described the novel as a sprawling coming-of-age story about a young Jewish boy navigating life in America between the World Wars.

Jim Tierney is an acclaimed book designer where his love of books and images is abundantly clear in everything he does. In 2011, he was awarded a New Visual Artist award and in in 2016, he won a Regional Design Award for Amy Stewart’s Girl Waits With Gun, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (Michaela Sullivan: Creative Director, Brian Moore: Art Director, Jim Tierney: Designer/Illustrator). Spine recently caught up with Mr. Tierney to discuss a few items about his practice.

Jim Tierney is a book cover designer living in Brooklyn, NY. His work includes the covers for the Kopp Sisters Novels, Girl Waits With Gun and Lady Cop Makes Trouble. Here is his process for designing those, in his own words.