English, August
[Awards]
AIGA 50 books | 50 covers 2022 winning cover;
Silver medal at Latin American Design Awards 2023
This novel tells the story of Agastya Sen, a 24-year-old Indian who begins his professional life in public service, following in the footsteps of his father and a good part of his country’s elite. The protagonist, quite westernized — so much so that he prefers to be called August — leaves the great metropolis of Delhi and moves to the countryside. His months of apprenticeship are marked by a denial of his reality, fueled by a feverish consumption of marijuana and alcohol. In this trajectory, the reader gets to know the various contradictions of contemporary India, also marked by the British colonial heritage, the North American influence and the influence of international pop culture.
The cover seeks to translate such contradictions. In addition to the opposing colors — a calm green under an intense red — a very Westernized, modernist and austere typographic composition gives space to a print of gyan mudra gestures that seem to float adrift, like the character lives during a major part of the book. This traditional gesture from Indian culture can be confused with the way of holding a joint, which gives the cover a humor that represents well the spirit of the book.
Carambaia, 2022
print production: Lilia Góes
15 × 23.5 cm
