Capra Press

Evan Karp, Special to The Chronicle

Thursday, December 1, 2011
“If you don’t go to an independent bookstore for this book, you won’t be able to buy it,” publisher Phil Brodey says of Jennifer Futernick’s “I Never Expected This Good Life.” The collection of poems, essays and stories about Futernick’s life is the re-launch title of Capra Press, founded by Noel Young in 1969, sold for health reasons in 2001 and reacquired this year by Young’s oldest daughter, Hilary Young Brodey, her husband and John and Diana Harrington. Their focus is to continue the Capra tradition – which includes subjects as diverse as fashion, ecology and architecture, and a backlog of notable authors that includes Henry Miller, Raymond Carver and Anaïs Nin – while maintaining a DIY, community-minded operation. They do not plan to sell their books from their website.

“We want people to go to independent bookstores,” Phil Brodey said. “We think they’re vital to the community. We think they’re a central focus for people getting together, and we think they need our support.” Operating out of their house, and distributing the books themselves, the Brodeys say they hope to publish four or five titles per year. “We’re content driven. … We don’t really have a hard focus,” he said. “We’re not limiting ourselves.” They are currently accepting submissions of fiction, nonfiction and poetry – both full-length editions and chapbooks.

Capra Press will celebrate its re-launch, and the publication of “I Never Expected This Good Life,” with a reading by Futernick on Wednesday at the Booksmith (7:30 p.m. Free. 1644 Haight St., S.F. www.caprapress.net).