Poetry Book Covers
Poets You Need to Know

Two Traditions, One Visual Language

LEG Edizioni commissioned a series of poetry anthologies introducing international readers to poets from two distinct traditions: Russian poetry of the early twentieth century, and Arab poetry spanning the modern era. Each volume needed a cover that could communicate literary weight and cultural identity while working as a cohesive series across six titles.

The challenge was to design a visual system flexible enough to carry very different cultural aesthetics — the revolutionary energy of Russian futurism and imagism alongside the lyrical, politically charged voice of Arab poetry — while remaining immediately recognisable as a single editorial family.

Collage as Editorial Language

Each cover is built around a black-and-white photographic portrait of the poet, integrated into a layered collage of painted brushstrokes, geometric forms, and texture. The portrait is never simply placed — it is embedded into the composition, partially obscured or framed by the painterly elements, creating a tension between document and interpretation.

The two series are distinguished by their palette: the Russian volumes use a bold red and black — revolutionary, raw, confrontational. The Arab volumes shift to ochre yellow and cobalt blue — warmer, more lyrical, referencing the visual culture of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Same system, two distinct emotional registers.

Majakovskij · Esenin · Achmatova

Three foundational voices of Russian poetry, each with a radically different relationship to language, politics, and the body. Majakovskij's futurist fury, Esenin's peasant lyricism, Achmatova's classical restraint under Soviet pressure — three distinct emotional worlds unified by the same red-and-black visual grammar.

Al Masri · Qabbani · Mosteghanemi

Three Arab poets whose work crosses borders — geographical, political, and cultural. Maram Al Masri's intimate voice from Syria to Paris, Nizar Qabbani's defiant celebration of womanhood, Ahlam Mosteghanemi's pioneering presence as the first woman to write Arabic poetry. The ochre and blue palette carries a different warmth — Mediterranean light against a darker political reality.