Novel BOOK COVER design
LACK OF AIR
ORO (ORIGINAL TITLE - Lithuanian)
A blue cover with three shaped letters represents the idea behind the story – a lack of air, as well as a lack of meaning. Literal translation of ‘oro’ means ‘of air’. The concept of squeezed object on the cover corresponds with circumstances of characters, dominant blue color reflects the significance of water and sea in the novel, and threads also reflect virtuality, which is escalated in the story. The effect of compressed letters was obtained by covering them with a regular trash bag and pulling out air with a vacuum cleaner. The handmade approach - cutting letters, covering with the bag and sucking out air - provided a natural feeling of shortness of breath.
AUTHOR OF THE NOVEL
Marijus Gailius (b.1983) is a Lithuanian writer, literary critic, environmental and cultural journalist. His collection of short stories Šlapias spalis (2012) received a First Book Prize, a novel of climate fiction Oro (2018) was acknowledged by readers as the Book of the Year 2019. “This multi-layered futuristic novel with a detective subplot explores essential issues of climate change and its consequences in Lithuania and the world, as well as topics of human relationships, broken communication, aging and information technologies, which create a substantial double of a human.“
(Neringa Dangvydė)
BOOK OF THE YEAR 2019 AWARD
Based on readers‘ vote, dystopian novel Oro by Marijus Gailius (publishing house Odilė, 2018) received a Book of the Year award in Lithuania. This story of climate fiction shows damaged nature and human relationships after a climate catastrophe.
