Last night we celebrated the release of Go the F**k to Sleep with publisher Akashic Books, author Adam Mansbach, illustrator Ricardo Cortés, special guests, and hundreds of fans at the New York Public Library.
The Library’s Paul Holdengräber facilitated a truly hilarious panel between author Adam Mansbach, illustrator Ricardo Cortés and print publisher Johnny Temple. It all began with a recording of Werner Herzog intensely reading the book aloud—as if he’d read the book any other way—and continued with fun and humorous conversations about child psychology, sleep deprivation, Samuel L. Jackson, Mesopotamia, and controversies surrounding the book. Most interesting may have been the visual journey through the many iterations of the cover, starting with an image-based collage version and ending, finally, with the cover we all know and love. The night ended with Judah Friedlander reading the book aloud with much animation and an open signing between the authors and the fans.
Johnny Temple of Akashic and Jane Friedman and Rachel Chou of Open Road celebrate with Adam and Ricardo before the event. Open Road is teamed up with Akashic to publish the ebook version of the book, which is on sale and already topping charts across digital retailers. It’s currently #1 on iTunes, where readers can zoom in to explore the detail in Cortés's detailed drawings and enjoy some neat page flow effects.
In the coming months, we are releasing an enhanced edition of the ebook—complete with video and audio. Stay tuned to us for early previews of hilarious new content.
Visit us at Flickr for more photos.
To pick up a free copy of the audiobook as narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, click here. To download the ebook from Amazon.com, Apple iBookstore, Barnesandnoble.com, Kobo Books, OverDrive, and the Sony Reader Store, click here for links.
Lots of videos and great coverage from last night via The Rumpus, Gothamist, Babble, EarlyWord, among many others.