We love a good book and, even better, a beautiful one. Indigo’s soon-to-be-released limited-edition 25 Year Collection of books will feature Vancouver artists like Aman Aheer, Elizabeth McIntosh, Jean-Paul Langlois and Scott Sueme in celebration of the company’s anniversary: 25 years of life, on purpose. The artists were tapped to design exclusive covers for the range of iconic reads; the collection is limited edition with 5,000 or fewer copies of each volume available starting September 4. We chatted with Jean-Paul Langlois, who created the art for The Kite Runner and The Inconvenient Indian, to find out more about his contribution. —Noa Nichol
My name is Jean Paul Langlois, I’m an artist of Metis and settler descent from the west coast of Canada. I suppose I’m best known for creating very colourful paintings and murals that reference film, tv, literature and art history to discuss my complex relationship with my family heritage. Indigo approached me and I was stoked! I’ve always been a voracious reader and book collector. The Vancouver Island Regional Library has had me do some design work for them and while in the Yukon I did a whole series examining parallels between Jack London’s White Fang and my own relationship with my dog, so working with them seemed like a good fit. The covers I did were The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini and The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King. I was honoured. I grew up listening to Thomas King on CBCs Dead Dog Cafe with my mom. He’s brilliant, and so funny. The Inconvenient Indian brought me to tears. Other books in the series I’ve enjoyed? Life of Pi. Such a lovely book, there’s nothing like it. Handmaids Tale, obviously. And although I have read some Alice Munro and Michael Ondaatje, I don’t think I’ve read these particular offerings. And I think Lawrence Hill is a genius. His Massey Lecture is one of the best of the series. So, I guess I have some reading to look forward to!
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