Judging Covers

Chip Kidd is as close to being a household name as most graphic artists ever get. Even if you haven’t heard of him, you’d likely recognize his work from trips through any bookstore. To authors and the marketing appendages of publishing companies, he’s a superstar, capturing the essence of books with daring, unexpected cover designs as head book designer at Alfred A. Knopf. He’s widely imitated, too: Elements of his startling design for Donna Tartt’s 1992 novel The Secret History are visible in the covers of Thomas Pynchon’s Mason & Dixon and John Berendt’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. His iconic logo for the late Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park ended up on the movie poster when Steven Spielberg adapted the book. Tonight at 6:30 at the Kansas City Public Library’s Plaza Branch (4801 Main), Kidd talks about his new book, Bat-Manga!: The Secret History of Batman in Japan. Admission is free; call 816-701-3407 to RSVP.

Wed., Nov. 19, 6:30 p.m., 2008