I saw the news today that Paul Buckley has left Penguin Books, where he was design director for 34 years. Paul did the covers for my collections Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day and Tales of Falling and Flying and was always such a pleasure to work with. On top of that, I loved both covers and felt like he really understood my work and “got” was I was all about as a writer and a human. I remember when they were in the process of putting together Stories for Nighttime, my editor wrote and asked me if I had any ideas for the cover. “Yes,” I said, “I’ve always known what it should look like—it should be bright yellow and have absolutely nothing on it!” I got a nice email in response, and then a few weeks later they sent me the cover Paul had designed. “Oh!” I said, “That’s even better!” (In a flash I suddenly understood why I was not a book designer.) And when, a few years later, they sent me the cover he’d designed for Tales of Falling and Flying, I remember thinking, “Wow, this guy is really going for it—he’s even more out there than I am!” It was such a great feeling to have such a genius on my side. To this day, both covers make me giddy with glee; I can hardly believe they actually happened.

Anyway, the point here is that today I read this piece about Paul Buckley over in PRINT Magazine; Paul talks about the ten projects he’s most proud of from over his 34-year career at Penguin, and I was delighted to find Stories for Nighttime and Some for the Day and Tales of Falling and Flying rounding out the list! It makes me so happy to know that he’s as proud of making those covers as I have always been to have them on my books. Best wishes to Paul—I know that whatever he does next, it will be amazing!