The other side of publishing: the women of books and reading in the 20st century (Milan, 23rd-26th November 2020)

Abstract

The paper proposes a synthesis and a reflection on the topics addressed during the conference “The other side of publishing: the women of books and reading in the 20th century”, organized by the Apice Center, with the collaboration of the Department of Historical studies of the University of Milan and the Arnoldo and Alberto Mondadori Foundation. On this occasion it was intended to shed light on the women’s role in the publishing during the 20th century, especially on those figures who, often without leaving any apparent trace, as editors, illustrators, translators and librarians, played a far from secondary role in discovering authors, in promoting works, in curating collections and disseminating good practices, such as reading.

The conference days, organized in five sessions, were divided by themes: “Editorial work”; “In the workshop of translators”; “Promoting reading”; “Drawing the book”, and “Female militancy”. The event was characterized by the heterogeneity and the multidisciplinary approach of the young researchers involved, who were able to let communicate different skills, related to gender studies, literary, artistic and historical, preferring, from the point of view of the method, the exploitation of archive sources, the identification of new types of documents and the experimentation of new working tools, like digital databases. This strategy led to the articulation of an intense program, full of insights and discussion, branched out from the main topics identified, such as the importance of memory, the autobiographical writings, the ongoing transformation of editorial work and the ability of women to create strong institutions.