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Virago Modern Classics 'looks to the future' with new design for 10 titles
Virago has announced an "elegant and iconic" new design for its Modern Classics list, which the publisher describes as "a love letter to the original ‘green spines’, reimagined for today’s reader".
The new design uses a palette of greens that "celebrates Virago’s heritage" and a wrap-around layout. The new look will launch in January 2025 with 10 titles from Muriel Spark, Gayl Jones and Patricia Highsmith, as well as the BookTok favourite Girl, Interrupted (Virago) by Susanna Kaysen, the Fran Lebowitz Reader (Virago) and Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God (Virago).
The redesign is part of a wider strategy for the Virago Modern Classics (VMC), which will see the annual publication of a number of "heroine" titles or "newly acquired rediscoveries or hidden gems", with frontlist-style covers and campaigns.
The launch of the new covers will be supported by a publicity and marketing campaign, with the new look rolling out across future reissues.
The Virago Modern Classics launched in 1978 with the aim of "rewriting the canon, bringing women’s voices and stories into the spotlight, and into conversation with each other, and expanding the definition of a classic".
The project has been led by Virago Modern Classics editorial director Olivia Barber and literary art director Nico Taylor. "I’m thrilled to celebrate the list’s heritage with this new look, which lovingly references the original green covers in a fresh, contemporary and playful way," Barber said. "The mark of a classic is its power to speak to each new generation, and the Virago Modern Classics have similarly never stopped reinventing themselves as the champion of the voices of women and writers of underrepresented genders—the evolution of the green spine marks an exciting new era for the list."
Taylor added: "Such a fantastic project throws up interesting challenges: is it possible to create a set of covers that compete in a vibrant and competitive classics market? Can they have enough flexibility for such a broad list, and can we create a unifying style that says timeless and contemporary all at once? We had a fantastic starting point to ground these designs; the Virago ‘green’.
"But, as we found when looking back over decades of VMC covers, there is no singular ‘green’, and this provided our eureka moment: rather than fixing on one, we decided to celebrate a vibrant palette of greens which can be paired with photography or illustration to really honour each title’s individuality. I was keen each title stood confidently on their own but ultimately came together as a set to reinforce the Virago Modern Classics as confident, arresting and dressed with a touch of class."
