Movie-to-book adaptations are everywhere you turn. Central Press Recovery of Las Vegas broke up the monotony, however, when in May they released a companion title to a documentary about addiction, entitled Many Faces, One Voice: Secrets from the Anonymous by Bud Mikhitarian. Inspired by the documentary The Anonymous People by Greg Williams which was released in 2014 at the Reel Recovery Film Festival, the companion book gives voice to the stories of addiction that did not make it into the documentary. In an article released by Publisher’s Weekly in July, Central Recovery Press’s executive editor Nancy Schenck and companion title author Bud Mikhitarian discussed their motivations for the project.
Central Recovery Press is known for their titles that address the stigmatization of addiction and other mental health issues. While at the film festival at which the documentary was showing, Schenck was naturally drawn to the message it conveyed. After Williams put her in touch with Mikhitarian, a producer on the film who was already working on a book inspired by the film, Central Recovery Press partnered with Mikhitarian to create the companion title that gives voice to the stories that did not appear in the documentary. Being an outsider to the “recovery community” yet deeply connected with the messages from the documentary, Mikhitarian had a unique perspective on the stories and interviews: “As a person outside of the recovery community, I thought the insights I gained from my experience on the film would be meaningful both to those affected by addiction and to those who are clueless about the issues, as I was.”
Mikhitarian’s work marks Central Recovery Press’s first foray into producing products that directly relate to another form of media. Well-known for their work dealing with
addiction and mental illnesses, this cross-over between genres introduces new audiences to the press and will allow the poignant messages of the documentary and companion title to reach more people than they would individually. This is one movie-to-book adaptation you don’t want to miss.