Our dear colleague Debbie Berne, who created the series look for Thích Nhất Hạnh’s iconic “How to” mindfulness books, died December 24, loved by family and friends, at her home on the Oakland-Berkeley border after a two-year battle with glioblastoma. She passed away five days before her 56th birthday.
Debbie was our go-to designer from 2008 until her diagnosis in 2023, and her joyful yet balanced cover designs were perfect complements to Thích Nhất Hạnh’s teachings and instrumental in Parallax Press’s success as a publisher. Debbie designed book covers how she lived life, her buoyant, playful hand-lettering balanced by a sense of calm discipline and spaciousness.
Drawing on her more than 20 years in the profession, Debbie’s friendly introduction to the art and craft of book design, The Design of Books (University of Chicago Press) has been translated into three languages—a must-read for book lovers. Cookbooking, her book on, yes, cookbook design, will come out later this year. She was slated to work on our forthcoming The Plum Village Cookbook, but alas, it was not to be. Our actions are our continuation, according to the teachings of the Buddha—Debbie continues in all of us whose lives she touched with her beautiful work and brilliant, good-natured self. Read her obituary in Berkeleyside here.