Chronicle Books is publishing an instant gift book called We Do: Portraits of Gay Marriage, scheduled to be released May 1. Chronicle president and publisher Jack Jensen told PW that We Do will feature 160 pages of wedding photographs and will retail for around $20 or $25. Literary agent Amy Rennert is the book's editor and is heading up a team looking for photographs to include in it.
"There is obviously an endless amount of politics around this issue," Jensen said. "We expect there will be plenty of books about the politics of this story; we're trying to tell the human story through the photographs."
Chronicle is in discussion with the San Francisco Chronicle, which has covered the gay marriage story prodigiously and has many photographs, about possible involvement in the project. Once a subsidiary of the San Francisco Chronicle, Chronicle Books has been an independent company since 2000.
Jensen stressed that while the gay marriage story started in San Francisco, it is a national issue and the publisher aims to produce a book that reflects its national significance. The company hopes to find photographs from sources around the country.
"We see this as a celebration of these people's, in many cases, 20- to 40-year commitments," Jensen said. "Like any other portrait book about marriage, it's about the moment."
