Jean-Paul Capitani, 78, co-founder of Actes Sud editions, died on Tuesday April 4 of a fatal fall from a bicycle in Arles, the publishing house said, confirming press information.
Married to the former Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen, he is one, with the father of his wife, Hubert Nyssen, of the founders of the Actes Sud editions, born in 1978 in a small village in the Alpilles and from the Cartography Workshop thematic and statistical (Proceedings).
Commercial and development director for many years while also having a publishing activity, Jean-Paul Capitani “contributed enormously, with his wife, to the aura and development of Actes Sud”, underlines the publishing house . In particular, he worked for the fine books sector, publishing artists like Sophie Calle.
An independent editorial policy
An agricultural engineer by training, he has also devoted himself to publishing books on botany, nature and agroecology. He is at the origin of the “Domaine du possible” collection, directed by the writer, director and environmental activist Cyril Dion.
Jean-Paul Capitani had left his position on the executive board of Actes Sud but remained a member of the supervisory board.
Actes Sud, founded in 1978, has become one of the largest independent publishing groups in France. Endowed with an independent, generalist editorial policy, oriented towards literature but also towards the arts and the humanities, the house publishes authors such as Paul Auster, Nancy Huston and the winners of the Goncourt Jérôme Ferrari and Nicolas Mathieu.