In her debut novel, Voyagers, writer Meg Chalrton introduces readers to Alex and Ana, who vanished decades ago in what was seemingly an alien abduction. Now, grown and distant from one another, they watch as the Signal, a mysterious and extraterrestrial beacon from the far reaches of the universe, contacts the world. Throughout the novel, Charlton explores what friendship looks like at the end of the world and how we confront memory and truth.
Charlton’s fiction and nonfiction have appeared in The Yale Review, Slate, Lux, Atlas Obscura, and Vice, and the anthology Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us. Her debut book is available for pre-order now and will be published by Harper on June 16, 2026.
Debutiful is honored to reveal the cover of Voyagers, which was designed by Milan Bozic, along with a Q&A with Charlton about its creation.
While writing the book, did you have any ideas for what you wanted the cover to look like?
It took me over five years to finish Voyagers and, in that time, I collected a lot of stray images that helped keep the book alive for me. Some were from work that inspired the novel directly — stills from the documentary For All Mankind, the album art for Punisher — while others were more oblique — Olafur Eliasson’s The Weather Project, a video of wind turbines in the desert, a photograph of two sleeping whales. If I had to say what united all of them, it might be a tension between awe and intimacy. They managed to feel mysterious but never sinister. And they all played in some way with scale.
Can you explain what the design process was like once you started working with your publishing team?
Harper was very open to my ideas and feedback throughout the entire process. I was surprised since I’d heard horror stories about authors hating their covers. But our brilliant designer, Milan Božić, was incredibly patient and kind enough to involve me from the start. I sent a very (!) extensive mood board and accompanying email, which pulled from some of those images I discussed above and expanded on them — I added book covers and movie posters, even some scientific drawings. After that, Milan sent us an initial draft, we did a couple rounds of notes, and here we are!
What was it like seeing your finalized cover for the first time?
Such a thrill! I wanted to share it with everyone immediately, but I’m glad I waited to share it here!
How does the cover work to convey what the book is all about?
The cover reflects the content of the novel in some very literal ways: A good chunk of the book takes place in and around the ‘90s and ‘00s TV industry, and the blur on the title treatment calls back to TV static. The two figures on the cover are stand ins for the protagonists, Alex and Ana. The Joshua Trees reflect the setting for the novel’s inciting incident and (spoiler alert) its climax. But my favorite part of the cover is the negative space of the night sky and the unknown glow on the horizon. I wanted the cover to leave space for speculation — is it an alien craft behind those clouds or just the light of the moon? — and put the reader in the same headspace as the characters.