Artist Joe Marciniak took an idea birthed by Woody Weingarten and turned it into a whimsical cover for the author’s newest book, The Roving I.

That cover depicts Weingarten, his real-life head superimposed on a cartoon body replete with pot belly, meandering into the writer’s imaginative, variegated world.

The Roving I, which should be published in September, anthologizes 70 of the columnist’s favorite first-person essays, penned for newspapers over more than a decade. Many are light-hearted; some are weighty.

Marciniak, a professional creative director, earlier had illustrated Grampy and His Fairyzona Playmates, a children’s fantasy co-written by Weingarten and his eight-year-old granddaughter, Hannah Schifrin. The illustrator’s work for that volume led to a Bay Area Independent Publishers Association (BAIPA) vote as best children’s book cover for 2021.

Purchasers of The Roving I can read how Weingarten’s attempt to do nothingbecame an instant fiasco, how a photographer turned his Parkinson’s disease into an asset, how a Cambodian slave-labor camp escapee became a successful U.S. entrepreneur, and how the writer’s bewitching partner earned a slot in his Little Black Book. Readers can additionally peruse stories detailing how one sister carried another’s “miracle baby” inside her for nine months, how eavesdropping let Weingarten share a bicyclist’s remembrance that her boyfriend “was feral” when first met, and how Robin Williams transformed himself into a talking vagina. The collection also includes a re-telling of how happy a pet duck made residents of an assisted living facility, and how the loss of a buddy who left behind a string of wives, girlfriends, and broken hearts spurred the author to continue fighting for the environment, homeless, equal rights.

More details about the book — and some excerpts — can be found on the https://woodyweingarten.com website.

The Roving I, insists Weingarten, who also wrote Rollercoaster: How a man can survive his partner’s breast cancer, is a labor of love. He’s betting you’ll love it, too.