We are thrilled to bring you this exclusive first look at the cover of Laura Silverman’s new anthology, Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise, forthcoming from Algonquin Young Readers on July 13, 2021.
When everyone else goes to bed, the ones who stay up feel like they’re the only people in the world. As the hours tick by deeper into the night, the familiar drops away and the unfamiliar beckons. Adults are asleep, and a hush falls over the hum of daily life. Anything is possible. It’s a time for romance and adventure. For prom night and ghost hunts. It’s a time for breaking up, for falling in love—for finding yourself. Stay up all night with these thirteen short stories from best-selling and award-winning YA authors like Karen McManus, Tiffany D. Jackson, Nina LaCour, and Brandy Colbert, as they take readers deep into these rarely seen, magical hours.
Below, Laura Silverman shares her thoughts on Up All Night’s cover. Then, cover designer Connie Gabbert shares his inspiration for and process to create the cover of Up All Night.
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Laura Silverman on the cover art for Up All Night: 13 Stories Between Sunset and Sunrise (Algonquin Young Readers, July 13, 2021):
I am beyond in love with the cover for Up All Night! And I’m beyond grateful to Connie Gabbert for bringing this book to life so beautifully.
The stories in Up All Night are all so unique that I thought it’d be too difficult to represent all of the characters on the cover. But the stories also have a common thread—they all take place between sunset and sunrise, and because of that setting, they all feel incredibly magical in their own ways.
When brainstorming ideas, I asked if we could have a text-based cover with a sunrise/sunset color palette. Connie has created many brilliant covers, and I love her fine and textured details, so I went ahead and requested those as well!
The cover we landed on truly takes my breath away. It perfectly captures the magical hours between dusk and dawn. It captures every story in the anthology—from the creeping midnight tales to the wild friendship romps to the warm and heartfelt romances.
Thank you to Connie for this truly incredible and gorgeous cover!
Book designer Connie Gabbert on the inspiration behind the cover:
When I received this cover project, I was added to a Pinterest board containing book covers of anthologies. Though a few of the referenced covers tried to include an icon or illustration from each story, I was more drawn to the covers that utilized a “big idea” to serve as a backdrop for all of the pieces. For this project, the thirteen short stories’ overarching umbrella was very clear—the night sky.
Given that each story in this anthology takes place between sunset and sunrise, the night sky was essential. It served as the background for each of the cover options we explored. The moon and stars were obvious additions (as well as being some of my favorite elements to draw). I was naturally inclined to the idea of the title floating in the sky, amongst the stars.
The art director on this project, Laura Williams, let me know that the book’s editor would like the cover to have a hand-drawn feel, with illustrated title type. It also felt right to me to have the rest of the cover text handwritten, for consistency and the tone of the stories. The writings felt intimate and personal, which handwriting alludes to nicely. Since anthology covers tend to be text-heavy, it was important to keep the sky open and leave a lot of space for author names.
In the end, we went with more of a sunset sky than a dark night sky. I appreciated the color that this introduced. I actually took a referenced sunset sky photo and drew the gradient directly on top of it, keeping with the cover’s sketchy, imperfect feel.
I’m very pleased with what we came up with. In particular, I appreciate how the stars are joined by constellation lines, and how likewise, these stories are joined together in one collection.
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Photograph of Laura Silverman by Katie King.
