A topological construction of families of Galois covers of the line

We describe a new construction of families of Galois coverings of the line using basic properties of configuration spaces, covering theory, and the Grauert-Remmert Extension Theorem. Our construction provides an alternative to a previous construction due to González-Díez and Harvey (which uses Teichmüller theory and Fuchsian groups) and, in the case the Galois group is non-abelian, corrects an inaccuracy therein.