This year’s SVA holiday gift guide for your favorite bookworm features a collection of art and photography books, nonfiction titles, a cookbook for your vegan loved ones, and more!
Each year, SVA alumni and faculty add an impressive range of new titles to the shelves. With so many releases across disciplines and genres, we’ve curated a thoughtful selection to help you navigate what’s new. Below, you’ll find books that make meaningful gifts for creatives, readers, and art lovers alike. Tip: consider purchasing through Bookshop to support independent and local bookstores. Happy holidays from the School of Visual Arts!
Cookbooks
The cover of the cookbook Vegana Italiana, by Tara Punzone (BFA 1999 Photography) with Gene Stone.
The cover of the cookbook Vegana Italiana, by Tara Punzone (BFA 1999 Photography) with Gene Stone.
Tara Punzone (BFA 1999 Photography) with Gene Stone
Rodale Books
Hardcover/e-book, $32.50/$14.99
Written by Chef Tara Punzone (BFA 1999 Photography)—founder of LA’s vegan Italian hotspot Pura Vita—with Gene Stone, Vegana Italiana is her debut cookbook, which offers more than 100 vegan Italian recipes inspired by her family’s meals and fan-favorites from her Los Angeles-based restaurant.
Art/Design/Photography
The cover of the photography book The Wizard of Awe, by alumnus Kevin Cooley.
The cover of the photography book The Wizard of Awe, by alumnus Kevin Cooley.
Kevin Cooley (MFA 2000 Photography and Related Media)
The Eriskay Connection
Hardcover/box set with C-print, T-shirt, and model rocket/edition with large C-print, €45/€275/€450
Conceptualized and photographed by alumnus Kevin Cooley (MFA 2000 Photography and
Related Media), The Wizard of Awe is an ode to embattled and controversial pyrotechnician Ken Miller, focusing on his life’s work that has been marked by both brilliance and misfortune, and his subsequent redemption.
As I Found It: My Mother’s House
Russell Hart (faculty, MPS Digital Photography)
Kehrer Verlag
Hardcover, €48
Maya Meissner (BFA 2013 Photography)
Zatara Press
Hardcover/signed hardcover, $60/$65
Marlena Buczek Smith (BFA 2002 Graphic Design)
Oro Editions
Hardcover, $45
Dustin Pittman: New York After Dark
Roger Padilha and Mauricio Padilha; photos by Dustin Pittman (1974 Film and Video)
Rizzoli
Hardcover, $75
Angela Cappetta (BFA 1992 Photography)
L’Artiere Edizione
Hardcover, €70
Kathy Shorr (BFA 1988 Photography)
Lazy Dog
Hardcover, €32
Pinar Yolaçan (faculty, Art History)
Baron Books
Hardcover, £45
Dana Stirling (MFA 2016 Photography, Video, and Related Media)
Kehrer Verlag
Hardcover, €44
Arturo Soto (MFA 2008 Photography, Video, and Related Media)
The Eriskay Connection
Softcover/softcover with print, €25/€65
Wendel A. White (BFA 1980 Photography)
Radius Books
Hardcover/signed hardcover, $70/$75
Richard Shear
Rockport Publishers
Hardcover, $24.99
The Meaning of Branded Objects
Tom Guarriello
Rockport Publishers
Hardcover, $24.99
Mark Kingsley
Rockport Publishers
Hardcover, $24.99
Children’s/Picture/Young Adult
The cover of Mama's Roti, by Raakhee Mirchandani and illustrated by SVA alumnus Shreya Gupta.
The cover of Mama's Roti, by Raakhee Mirchandani and illustrated by SVA alumnus Shreya Gupta.
Raakhee Mirchandani; illustrated by Shreya Gupta (MFA 2017 Illustration as Visual Essay)
Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Hardcover, $18.99
Illustrated by Shreya Gupta (MFA 2017 Illustration as Visual Essay), Mama’s Roti is a powerful story about the life-giving force of roti—a round Indian flatbread—and where it comes from. The book also chronicles the people who grow roti, and what it symbolizes within two families, inspired by the farmers’ protests in India.
Breaking the Chain: The Guard Dog Story
Patrick McDonnell (BFA 1978 Media Arts)
Abrams ComicArts
Hardcover/e-book, $22.99/$20.69
Planting Hope: A Portrait of Photographer Sebastião Salgado
Philip Hoezel; illustrated by Renato Alarcão (MFA 2001 Illustration as Visual Essay)
Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Hardcover/e-book, $18.99/$10.99
The Boy Who Lived in a Shell: Snippets for Wandering Minds
John Himmelman (BFA 1981 Media Arts)
Margaret Ferguson Books
Hardcover/e-book, $16.99/$9.99
Thushanthi Ponweera; illustrated by Maithili Joshi (BFA 2022 Illustration)
Union Square Kids
Hardcover, $18.99
Christopher Cheng; illustrated by Jacqueline Tam (MFA 2016 Illustration as Visual Essay)
Roaring Book Press
Hardcover/e-book, $18.99/$10.99
Words with Wings and Magic Things
Matthew Burgess; illustrated by Doug Salati (faculty, BFA Illustration; MFA 2014 Illustration as Visual Essay)
Tundra Books
Hardcover/e-book/audio, $19.99/$10.99/$14.99
Comics/Graphic Novel/Graphic Memoir
The cover of the book Amalgam: An Immigrant, His Labor Union, and His American Family in Brooklyn by SVA faculty Frances Jetter.
The cover of the book Amalgam: An Immigrant, His Labor Union, and His American Family in Brooklyn by SVA faculty Frances Jetter.
Amalgam: An Immigrant, His Labor Union, and His American Family in Brooklyn
Frances Jetter (faculty, BFA Comics and BFA Illustration)
Fantagraphics
Hardcover, $60
Written and illustrated by BFA Comics and BFA Illustration faculty Frances Jetter, who designed this summer’s SVA Subway Series poster, Amalgam is a uniquely told immigrant story. Author and visual artist Jetter connects her own life to that of her ancestors and their interweaving ties to the 20th-century labor movement.
Gerard Way (BFA Cartooning) and Shaun Simon; illustrated by Chris Weston
Dark Horse
Paperback, $19.99
Call Me Emma: One Chinese Girl Finds Her Way in America
Makee (BFA 2019 Illustration)
Street Noise Books
Paperback, $23.99
Max Huffman (BFA 2016 Cartooning)
Fantagraphics
Hardcover, $19.99
Talking to My Father’s Ghost: An Almost True Story
Alex Krokus (faculty, BFA Animation)
Chronicle Books
Paperback, $22.95
Nonfiction
The cover of the nonfiction book The World Atlas of Honey, by SVA alumnus C. Marina Marchese.
The cover of the nonfiction book The World Atlas of Honey, by SVA alumnus C. Marina Marchese.
C. Marina Marchese (BFA 1988 Media Arts)
University of California Press
Hardcover/e-book, $35
Written by C. Marina Marchese (BFA 1988 Media Arts), this book showcases the wonderful world of honey from hive to jar, featuring profiles of more than 80 countries and their botanical sources, a global history of honey production from the earliest beekeepers to today’s harvest, and illustrations and photos that celebrate honey’s exceptional range and diversity.
Rory O’Neill Schmitt (MPS 2007 Art Therapy) and Rosary O’Neill
The History Press
Paperback, $24.99
Poetry
The cover of the poetry book In the Becoming: Poems on the Deirdre Story, by SVA alumn Margaret McCarthy.
The cover of the poetry book In the Becoming: Poems on the Deirdre Story, by SVA alumn Margaret McCarthy.
In the Becoming: Poems on the Deirdre Story
Margaret McCarthy (BFA 1975 Fine Arts)
Broadstone Books
Paperback, $22.50
Written by poet, playwright, and photographer Margaret McCarthy (BFA 1975 Fine Arts), this poetry collection reimagines the tragic Irish legend of Deirdre through a feminist lens, centering her journey as a creative woman finding her voice through nature, magic, and spiritual awakening.
Tomiko and Ryokuyō Matsumoto; co-translated by Kyoko Miyabe (chair, Humanities and Sciences)
UCLA Asian American Studies Center Press
Paperback, $27