To kick off our season of 76West in celebration of our Books That Changed My Life Festival, The Lambert Center’s Jason Blitman talks to designer Elizabeth Yaffe about the process of creating that thing you judge most about a book—its cover.

Elizabeth Yaffe is a book cover designer and animator. She currently works in the Viking/Penguin Art Department at Penguin Random House. She has designed covers for authors including Amy Tan, Rebecca Makkai, Jami Attenberg, Kevin Wilson, Timothy Egan, and Sarah Thankam Mathews. She has animated covers for authors including Stephen King, Carola Lovering, Jesse Ball, and Chelsea Bieker. Originally from Philadelphia, she graduated from Pomona College with degrees in anthropology and media studies.