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JM Originals unveils three new titles with covers designed by university students
JM Originals, an imprint of John Murray, has announced three titles for 2022, each with a cover designed by a student of Liverpool John Moore University.
Senior commissioning editor Becky Walsh acquired world rights to Irish debut Catchlights by Niamh Prior, which centres on the mysterious disappearance of a young woman, from Ludo Cinelli at Eve White Literary Agency, for publication on 9th June.
She also acquired UK and Commonwealth rights to Leigh Newman’s "exhilarating" short story debut Nobody Gets Out Alive from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Nicole Aragi at Aragi. The collection will be published on 23rd June.
Senior editor Kate Craigie acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Jenny Brown at Jenny Brown Associates to Free to Go: Across the World on a Motorbike by poet and academic Esa Aldegheri. It is described as a “genre-blending part-round-the-world travel narrative, part-feminist meditation on freedoms, fear and womanhood".
This year marks the first time cover designs have been chosen from a shortlist of submissions from Liverpool John Moore University art students in what is intended to be an ongoing partnership between the university and John Murray.
The winning cover designers were Rosa Aaliyah for Nobody Gets Out Alive, Ciara Cuthbert for Free to Go and Ella Garrett for Catchlights. The publisher said their covers continued a legacy of commissioning up-and-coming and established artists to design John Murray covers. That legacy included Arthur Rackham, John Piper, Eric Ravilious and Beryl Cook.
Jocasta Hamilton, John Murray publisher, said: “JM Original titles are acquired with total editorial freedom [which] has led to some wonderful, prize-winning publishing. We wanted to extend the opportunity for bold creative thinking to the jacket design by partnering with students at John Moore University. We loved seeing the range of styles and imagination with which they responded to the books and are delighted that this is the beginning of an ongoing relationship.”
