Welcome to Quillcast, a new podcast series from Quill & Quire featuring behind-the-scenes conversations with authors and publishing insiders. In this first episode, CS Richardson, vice-president and creative director of Canadian Publishing for Random House Canada, discusses the changing art of book design.
Over his impressive 30-year career, Richardson has designed more than 1,500 books. He’s also an accomplished writer, whose first novel, The End of the Alphabet, won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in Canada and the Carribean. He is currently at work on a second novel, The Emperor of Paris, to be published in 2012.
Scroll down to listen to our first episode, or subscribe to the podcast in iTunes.
Click on the thumbnails to view a gallery of Richardson’s work:
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- Richardson was attracted to the "voluminous blossom of tutu ... I found it really evocative, and refreshing that we didn't see what she looked like."
- CS Richardson's final cover design for Martha Schabas' Various Positions (Doubleday Canada)
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- In this rejected design, Richardson toyed with various ballet positions.
- An early version of CS Richardson's cover for Martha Schabas' Various Positions (Doubleday Canada)
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- In this design, Richardson played with splitting the text into "various positions."
- An early version of CS Richardson's cover for Martha Schabas' Various Positions (Doubleday Canada)
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- In earlier versions of the design, Richardson played with vintage imagery.
- An early version of CS Richardson's cover for Martha Schabas' Various Positions (Doubleday Canada)
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- CS Richardson's cover for Carol Shields' Unless (Random House Canada)
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- Richardson's design for the cloth reprint of Leonard Cohen's novels <i>Beautiful Losers</i> and <i>The Favourite Game</i> (McClelland & Stewart) was acknowledged as a <a href ="http://www.quillandquire.com/books-of-the-year-2009/article.cfm?article_id=11041">2009 <i>Q&Q</i> cover of the year</a>.
- CS Richardson's cover for Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers and The Favourite Game (McClelland & Stewart)
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- "There is something gently magical about this quirky debut, though the places and characters are never less than believable," wrote Sarah Steinberg in the April 2007 issue of <i>Quill & Quire</i>. The novel was named one of <a href="http://www.quillandquire.com/google/article.cfm?article_id=8168"><i>Q&Q</i>'s books of the year</a>.
- CS Richardson's novel, The End of the Alphabet (Doubleday Canada)
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- <i>Photo: Clay Patrick McBride</i>
- CS Richardson
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Quillcast is produced with media partners The Walrus, Open Book: Ontario, and Open Book: Toronto, with support from Toronto Life. This project has been generously supported by the Ontario Media Development Corporation’s Entertainment and Creative Cluster Partnerships Fund.
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