PROJECT DESCRIPTION
As an adult, Lauren Hough has had many identities: a cable guy, an airman in the U.S. Air Force, a bouncer at a gay club. As a child, however, she had none. Growing up as a member of the infamous cult The Children of God, Hough had her own self robbed from her. The cult took her all over the globe–to Germany, Japan, Texas, Chile—but it wasn’t until she finally left for good that Lauren understood she could have a life beyond “The Family.”
Along the way, she’s loaded up her car and started over, trading one life for the next. She’s taken pilgrimages to the sights of her youth, been kept in solitary confinement, dated a lot of women, dabbled in drugs, and eventually found herself as what she always wanted to be: a writer. Here, as she sweeps through the underbelly of America—relying on friends, family, and strangers alike—she begins to excavate a new identity even as her past continues to trail her and color her world, relationships, and perceptions of self.
At once razor-sharp, profoundly brave, and often very, very funny, the essays in Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing interrogate our notions of ecstasy, queerness, and what it means to live freely. Each piece is a reckoning: of survival, identity, and how to reclaim one’s past when carving out a future.
BOOK INFORMATION
Trim Size:
Number of Pages:
Binding Method:
Paper:
Typefaces:
CREDIT INFORMATION
Creative Director:
Art Director: Megan Wilson
Book Designer:
Jacket/Cover Designer: Mark Abrams
Illustrator:
Photographer:
Picture Editor:
Production Director:
Production Coordinator:
Production Artist:
Other Credits: original typography Maksim & Vladmir Loginov (handmade font)
Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing
Category
Cover
Description
Book Title: Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing
Design Firm/Agency:
Publisher: Vintage Books
Author/Editor: Lauren Hough (editor Tim O’Connell)
Juror Comments
“Wonderful integration of type and image...needs nothing more.” —Kimberly Varella
Winner Status
- 50 Covers Winner
Share