Patricia Engel and I became friends while studying together at NYU Paris. Since we graduated from college, she has focused on writing and is debuting her first book of fictional short stories, Vida. It’s already well received, as evidenced by a mention in the September issue of Vanity Fair and with endorsements by established writers such as Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz, who calls Engel “gloriously gifted and alarmingly intelligent.” What’s also glorious is the design of the book’s cover, which is credited to graphic designer Royce M. Becker. Curious about the design process, I asked Engel a few questions about her experience in this aspect of making a book.

SHAGREENE: What kind of direction did you give your publisher, Black Cat, for the design of the book? What kind of questions did they ask you?

PATRICIA ENGEL: My editor asked me if there were any ideas I wanted to pass along to the art department as they began work on the cover design. I remember telling her blue was my favorite color, that I had a preference for the minimalism you see on European book covers like Les Éditions de Minuit, and I sent her an image of a girl at the beach at night, painted by a Colombian artist called Naty. I bought the print seven years ago at an art festival in Miami and it inspired several scenes throughout the book.

S: What do you love about the cover?

PE: There’s a quiet intensity to it. It’s provocative yet subtle. It stands on it’s own as a stunning composition but the mosaic tile gives a sense of the assembled stories that slowly reveal Sabina’s emotional topography. I love that the girl on the cover is both in a car and at the beach because the book is strongly connected to physical landscapes while describing the world in motion experienced by children of exile.

S: Do you know who the girl in the photo is?

PE: No.

S: How important is a book’s design in its success?

PE: I’ve heard people say a cover has no influence on the success of a book while others say a lifeless cover can kill a book. I think there is no real rule but a compelling cover can’t hurt. As an author, it’s a gift to have a cover that truly suits the content.

S: How did the publisher come up with the size of the book?

PE: I don’t know.

S: Was there any type of approval that you were allowed to be a part of?

PE: I was shown two cover images, both incredibly beautiful, and I was torn between them. But my editor, my agent, and the few family and friends to whom I showed the covers all said this half-obscured girl by the beach drew them in right away. So I knew this was the one.