Dan Wagstaff
@danwagstaff.bsky.social
Books and stuff. Manager of expectations. Toronto. He/him. www.casualoptimist.com
I am honored to announce that in cooperation with the Toth family, I will be working on the official Alex Toth typeface in the coming months. The plan is for this to be a commercially available font via the official Toth estate. Stay tuned for updates.
Logging on... (Peanuts, August 13, 1988 via the Schulz Museum)
It sounds like Zac will be writing about book covers and design at The Rumpus on a regular basis, which is great!
The Casual Optimist@casualoptimist.bsky.social · 6d agoZach Petit rounds up the best book covers of year (so far) for @therumpus.net
I simply must share this amazing video clip of @sisterhyde.bsky.social walking us thru her process of picking the GORGEOUS colors and fonts for the upcoming @criterion.bsky.social Kubrick box set She is my new hero:
This is why there are so many murders in quaint English villages!
‘It’s not cricket’: cheating row as ‘Clicky Ponting’ appears to dupe umpire
Viral video apparently shows a Saltburn 2nd XI fielder clicking his fingers to mimic a batter’s nick
theguardian.com
‘We are confident that our longlist of books has something for everyone’ We are delighted to reveal the Booker Prize 2026 longlist. Huge congratulations to the authors who make up this year's Booker Dozen. ➡️ Discover the full list: thebookerprizes.com/bp2026
Behind the scenes on ‘The Banana Splits’ TV show, 1968.
Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot review – Anne Enright celebrates a landmark feminist novel
Gaining Ground by Joan Barfoot review – Anne Enright celebrates a landmark feminist novel
Half a century on, this tale of a woman who abandons her children in search of her self remains thrillingly original
theguardian.com
A snippet from Damien Aubin's photographic series documenting a former Soviet mining settlement frozen in time www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/07/dami...
I’m in today’s Guardian, writing about the recent success of Osamu Dazai’s bleak books, the anime link, a new translation of Dazai’s female-focused stories, and how the success of his books enabled @ndbooks.bsky.social to pay for a new floor…
Worth pointing out that in 1956, a children's book adaptation of Homer was doing "woke" casting.
I still have my very worn and battered copy of The Iliad and the Odyssey illustrated by Alice and Martin Provensen, but apparently @nyrb-imprints.bsky.social Kids are bringing it back into print next year... www.nyrb.com/products/the...
The Iliad and the Odyssey
This iconic edition of The Iliad and the Odyssey, illustrated by the renowned Alice and Martin Provensen, is a superb introduction to Homer’s Greek classics and to the world of Greek myth. In this cle...
nyrb.com
This is a great interview, and Gaining Ground is such a good read... observer.co.uk/culture/book...
‘My career was wrapped – now suddenly this magic is happe...
In 1978 Joan Barfoot wrote a novel about a woman who abandons her family for a cabin in the Canadian woods. Fifty years on, it is the must-read book of the summer
observer.co.uk
An exceptional piece of writing from @leanderalphabet.bsky.social that sums the whole World Cup up defector.com/fifa-got-wha...
"Designing is not a profession but an attitude. Thinking in relationships." - László Moholy-Nagy The Law of Series 1925
After the pay phone market opened to providers other than incumbent phone cos., they focused on Toronto. I assume many of those companies are long gone. Their phones, like this one on Dundas near University, are often in a exceptionally bad way. (Rolleiflex Wide, Zeiss 55mmf4 Distagon, Kodak Tri-X)
If you haven't seen it yet, BBC's montage at the end of the World Cup was fucking tremendous www.youtube.com/watch?v=20Fi...
BBC FIFA World Cup 2026 Closing Montage
YouTube video by Pick Six Productions Xtra
youtube.com
Cover design by Matt Avery / Monograph Studio.
Levi Stahl@levistahl.bsky.social · 3w agoChicago’s got the prettiest Odyssey. (And, I legitimately think, as a longtime Odyssey reader who has read several translations, the best. Daniel Mendelsohn’s translation is gorgeous, faithful, and clever, the notes incredibly helpful and interesting.)
The view of the Northern Ontario forest fire haze engulfing the Toronto Skyline from Humber Bay Park West. #ForestFire #TorontoHaze #TheBigSmoke #Toronto
Here are Lit Hub's June book cover picks: lithub.com/the-13-best-...
The 13 Best Book Covers of June
Another month of books, another month of book covers. This month was all about the art choices—and a couple clever tricks, too. My favorite book covers of June are below; as always, feel free to ad…
lithub.com
ICYMI, here are my book cover design selections for June! www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2026/06...
Book Covers of Note, June 2026
Hey, hello. Don’t you know there’s a World Cup on? Here are this month’s book cover selections… As If by Isabel Waidner; design by Na Kim (FSG Originals / June 2026) The cov…
casualoptimist.com
Some process images for my cover for this week's New Yorker (2 of 2) 1 - final Ink drawing. 2 - Close-up of the finished image. 3. - A drawing from the show that inspired my image. 4 - New Yorker web page on the cover.
Tom Gauld@tomgauld.bsky.social · last mo.Some process images for my cover for this week's New Yorker (1 of 2) 1 - Drawing in a passport sized notebook. 2 - Various other doodles. 3 - Rough ink sketch. 4 - Neater Pencil Sketch.
