Paul Buckley, V.P. Executive Creative Director at Penguin Books, apart from being a giant in the field, is also an obsessive fisherman and a friend of AI-AP/DART. We recently caught up on the subject of fishing, and I learned that he has somehow found time to reboot his own career as an illustrator. Ergo, this Proust Questionnaire, hot off the wireless.

Left to right: Editorial on radiation tinged food products from Japan entering the U.S.; Poster for Emzin of Slovenia to celebrate the traveling PENGUIN 75 show; Editorial on a banner 2011 citrus crop; Cover for a book of short stories. All art and design by Paul Buckley.

Q: What you like most about being creative.
A: Once in a while you get to add something beautiful, and or distinctive, to the fabric of the world.

Q: Your best quality.
A: I can, at times, be quite diplomatic.

Q: Your main fault.
A: That I have none. No matter what the naysayers say.

Q: The natural talent you wish you had.
A: Eidetic memory.

Q: If not yourself, who you would be.
A: David Gilmour.

Q: What you would change about your appearance.
A: My weak chin. Inside I feel like a guy with a strong chin, but outside it’s a whole other story.

Q: The qualities you most appreciate in a life partner.
A: Boobies. They rock.

Q: The qualities you most appreciate in a friend.
A: If I want to stay out of trouble, the lack thereof.

Q: The qualities you most appreciate in children.
A: They can often be hilarious in the most honest and absurd ways.

Q: What makes you happy.
A: So many things.

Q: What makes you miserable.
A: Nervous types who overthink everything.

Q: What you would do on a midweek day off.
A: Sleep late, and do a whole lot of nothing.

Q: Your most admired living person.
A: Anyone who is generally nice, is not cloaked in religion, and not overly enamored of any sort of celebrity. They are hard to find.

Q: The first art or photo book you bought, and where.
A: Growing up, my father gave me many – but the first one I bought was most likely a Society of Illustrators annual.

Q: Your favorite writers.
A: Sam Harris, Martin Amis, Carlos Castaneda (shut up, I know it’s not true...), David Sedaris, Vonnegut, A. M. Homes, Hunter Thompson, Kerouac, Capote, Steinbeck, Marquez, T. C. Boyle, Delillo, Trevor, Borges, Chris Ware, Seth, Dan Clowes, Tom Gauld, Ben Katchor, Bill Watterson, Berke Breathed, Gary Trudeau.

Q: Your favorite New York neighborhood.
A: Where I keep my boat - Dead Horse Bay in Brooklyn.

Q: Your favorite food and drink.
A: BBQ & Negronis on ice.

Q: What you are listening to now.
A: The Seldom Seen Kid by Elbow.

Q: Your greatest regret.
A: My true regrets are not the sort I would put out there for the general public to see... we are inherently a judgmental lot, and who needs more judging in their life.

Q: Your greatest hope.
A: To see some of the religious and moral hypocrisies of our time lessen, rather than grow.

Q: How you would prefer to die.
A: At the same exact instant as my wife, however that is. I’m not sure Ingsu buys into this but I’d like to be buried without a casket, or anything between me and the dirt; not sure how to get that done – humans are the only organisms that do not participate in the food chain, which is so wrong and bizarre in so many ways... yet I seem to be the only one I can find who feels this way – go figure. Barring that, cremation... cemeteries are such a weird concept.

Q: Your favorite motto.
A: While I’d like to sound intellectual here and quote something way out of left field, maybe I was meant to be a dentist? The old plaque-like standbyes just work for me and my life: There are two sides to every coin, There are many ways to skin a cat, Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans – these all serve me very well. You may need to go elsewhere for new awesome bits of wisdom.

Paul Buckley is V.P. Executive Creative Director, Penguin Books. He and his talented team oversee the covers and jackets for nine imprints and thousands of authors.

Editor’s note: Paul was a juror for AI-27; some of his recent illustration work was selected for the forthcoming AI-30, which will debut at the AI-AP launch on November 10; his book on cover design was featured in DART last fall.

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