uneducated, by christopher zara (CLIENT: Little, Brown and Company) New York

Yay, I was hired by Little, Brown and Company to design this cover (and jacket and endpapers, etc.) of this amazing memoir, which is in bookstores, and everywhere books are sold now. (For the record, I’m the wife of the author but the terrific folks at Little, Brown put me through the same comp/pitch process as anyone else and we were soooo thrilled we won! You can see some of the unused comps at the bottom of this page. Also, I’m in the book.)

You may order the book on Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Target, Amazon, etc., although I’d personally recommend ordering it from your local bookstore. (Click here to see all ordering options.) Our local bookstore, Book Culture, is offering a special discount code (ZARA) if you order it directly from them. Hooray! Here’s the Book Culture link

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR UNEDUCATED

"Zara’s tale is perfectly paced, told with powerful prose and invigorating candor. By turns hilarious and heartbreaking, this must-read memoir offers hope to anyone who worries the weight of their past stands in the way of their future."―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"In a brisk, entertaining narrative, Zara recounts his bumpy path from a checkered school career that included many detentions, suspensions, and, finally, expulsion to an impressive position at a major media venue. [...] A savvy account of an interesting life path."―Kirkus Reviews

”Maybe traditionally uneducated, but Christopher Zara is the valedictorian of the school of hard knocks. His ups and downs are told here with sly wit, candor, and heart. I loved every page of this eye-opening cri de coeur, the bad times and bad jobs revisited with self-blame but refreshingly without bitterness.”―Elinor Lipman, author of Ms. Demeanor, Good Riddance, and other novels

“A sometimes painful, always compelling story of a high-school dropout who hungered for a life as a journalist but lacked the ticket for admission: a college degree.”―Peter Goldman, bestselling author and former senior editor at Newsweek

“Christopher Zara’s Uneducated is a piercing, heartbreaking, heartwarming memoir of triumph in the face of the societal challenges that confront so many of us. He offers a clear-eyed view of America’s education gap, as well as the implosion of media over the past decade, that none of us can afford to ignore.”―Nick Kolakowski, author of How to Become an Intellectual and editor of Lockdown: Stories of Crime, Hope, and Terror During a Pandemic

“An inspiration for anyone who has ever felt othered and forged their own path—I was rooting for him every minute.”―Patricia Black, creative director, actor

"Whatever happened to that weird-looking introverted kid in high school who just disappeared one day? An engrossing read, honestly told and at times both hilarious and heartbreaking, Uneducated is a universal tale of defying the odds, of proving to yourself and to others that, yes, there is a place in the world for people who fit outside the mold."―Angela Di Carlo, comedian/singer-songwriter

ma vie en rosÉ (CLIENT: Buck Jones) paris

Disclosure (CLIENT: NETFLIX & Francesco Le Metre)

Having even the most tenuous attachment to this terrific and important documentary is a genuine honor. And listening to Francesco Le Metre’s stunning score while designing the album was truly a joy.

And on a personal note, when I got the photos for this gig I got a bit misty to see my old friend Lady Chablis and to think that somehow our paths crossed once more on a level neither of us could have ever imagined when we met in 1985.

She was known as the Grand Empress, Lady Chablis, the doll, and simply The Lady but in my old Filofax she's listed as Miss Brenda Knox. She was a true original — hilarious (as most people know) but also incredibly kind and gracious. She dared; she was bodacious.

The last time I saw her was at Lincoln Center for an event for Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. We were on the upper terrace at Avery Fisher Hall with my mother and she was holding court with Bobby Short and John Berendt, and a gaggle of gawkers. At one point she locked arms between me and Mother and said, "come on girls, let's walk through this bitch like rich old white ladies..." We did — and laughed long into the night.

Everybody raise a glass, y'all — Miss Brenda Knox may have passed but her impact and importance in the LGBTQ world, and beyond, is eternal.

isabel rose (CLIENT: jubilee productions) new york

creative development

Here a few comps that didn’t make the cut. (I put a very old shot of me in one of these comps and don’t think I won’t pull that stunt again.)