Activist Translations in Italy. A Paratextual Analysis of Five Feminist and Queer Editorial Projects

After being widely debated in the Anglophone world, the issue of diversity in the publishing industry has been recently introduced in Italy as well, calling for greater gender, ethnic, sexual, and class equality. As pointed out by Helen Vassallo (2023), the agents involved in the publication of a book – translators, editors, publishers – are pivotal in the promotion of inclusivity. In particular, some small publishing houses play a key role in this regard thanks to their overtly activist mission. This paper deals with a selection of small Italian activist publishers and their efforts to counteract mainstream narratives about diversity and promote intersectional feminist and queer culture on a transnational level through translation. The paratexts of five translations whose source text is already part of an activist project are analysed through Kathryn Batchelor's (2018) framework to demonstrate that they are a complementary form of activism in which the publishing industry agents can further their political and activist agendas and comment on the texts and the linguistic choices their translation required.