Lauren E. Osborn‘s Entomology of the Pin-Up Girl is the winner of the 2024 Dzanc Short Story Collection Prize, and is set to be published by Dzanc on May 12, 2026. It is now available for pre-order.
Upon announcing the prize in December 2024, Dan Wickett, Dzanc’s co-founder and founder of the Emerging Writers Network said of the short story collection, “The title of Lauren Osborn’s collection leads you to the works inside Entomology of the Pin-Up Girl. Insects and girls and women drive every one of the stories in this exciting collection. Osborn utilizes each odd scenario to dig into the human condition. This collection nicely continues Dzanc’s publishing of story collections full of surprises and scenarios one rarely finds in stories today.”
Debutiful is honored to reveal the cover, which was designed by Jenny Eickbush, along with a Q&A with the author about how the picture-perfect cover was created.
While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?
I didn’t think about the cover design during the writing process, but after I settled on a title, I knew I wanted the cover to feature a pin-up girl with insects. Jenny Eickbush, the incredible artist who designed the cover, had the brilliant idea of painting pinned insects on the pin-up girl’s outfit. I think she did a phenomenal job!
Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?
Jenny Eickbush sketched out four possible poses for the pin-up girl on the cover. Each was unique and captivating in her own way, but Michelle Dotter and I decided on the one with more mystique.
What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?
It felt like witnessing the wings of a butterfly outstretched for the first time after a long sleep in its cocoon. I was thrilled.
How does the cover work to convey what the contents of the story are?
The stories in this collection navigate nature’s strange beauty, which requires taking a closer look at things sometimes overlooked or missed. I think Jenny’s cover design does a great job in conveying this idea through the pinned insects on the pin-up girl’s outfit. I also love the shadows of spiders on the back cover.