Book Festival reveals inaugural 2022 poster

The New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University unveiled its official 2022 poster for the inaugural event, which features the artwork of Emma Fick, a talented local author, artist and illustrator from nearby Covington who now lives and works in New Orleans.

Fick’s artwork for the inaugural poster took two weeks to complete. It depicts a green uptown streetcar with each passenger reading a book. Tulane’s campus stands in the background, and tall magnolia trees with big blooms cross over the top on which the festival banner is draped. The immediate border surrounding the piece features book covers from some participating authors. ­

The outer edge on each side consists of interior elements from the print itself. For instance, Fick pulled the green from the deepest hue of the magnolia leaves, and the reddish-brown color on the right side is from the streetcar door.

“My goal was to design a poster that is visually iconic to New Orleans that book patrons could take home and put on their walls.”

- Emma Fick, designer of the official 2022 book festival poster

“My goal was to design a poster that is visually iconic to New Orleans that book patrons could take home and put on their walls,” Fick said. “I had a lot of fun hiding the information on the streetcar and with the book covers. I like when a poster is like an Easter egg hunt, and you keep finding different small things.”

The book festival will take place March 10-12, on Tulane University's uptown campus. The event is free and open to the public. Posters will be available for purchase in the Pedersen Lobby, located inside the Lavin-Bernick for University Life, during all three days of the festival.

Book lovers can “bring the magic of New Orleans — and of reading — to their walls” by purchasing the poster. It is available for presale by clicking here. A limited supply of posters hand-signed by Fick are available for $60, while unsigned posters are $30.

“In New Orleans, every great festival must have a memorable commemorative poster. Emma is such a tremendous artist, and we are very grateful to her for designing an amazing first poster for our book festival. The piece is very visual and filled with so many vibrant colors with a true New Orleans and Tulane flavor. Emma surpassed our expectations and has set the bar high for official posters at our future festivals,” said Cheryl Landrieu, festival co-chair.

Fick taught English in Serbia on a Fulbright scholarship and began to chronicle its culture in a series of watercolor illustrations called “Snippets.” The illustrations caught on, and thanks to a grant from the U.S. Embassy, Fick returned to Serbia to pursue painting full time.

After publishing her first book of illustrations, Snippets of Serbia, in 2015, she returned to New Orleans and began working on Snippets of New Orleans, published in 2017. Her current work, all watercolor and ink on paper, explores cultural, biological and floral hybrids and the endless permutations they allow. Her third book, Border Crossings: A Journey on the Trans-Siberian Railway, published by Harper Design, is available for pre-order now via Amazon and will be released in April.

All events for the book festival will take place on Tulane’s uptown campus, including Dixon Hall, the Lavin-Bernick Center for University Life, Myra Clare Rogers Memorial Chapel, Goldring/Woldenberg Business Complex and the Berger Family Lawn.

For more information on the New Orleans Book Festival at Tulane University, please visit ​www.bookfest.Tulane.edu and follow along on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.