Women in Print: Transnational Circulation of Idea(l)s from a Dutch Perspective

Abstract

To fuel the transnational flow of ideas, post-war feminism depended on the so-called Women in Print movement. Feminist publishers, printers and booksellers facilitated cross-border exchanges through very concrete practices, from compiling bibliographic lists to translating. This contribution discusses two feminist presses from the Netherlands: Sara (1977–1987) and Atalanta (1980–). These local cases are used to track traces of transnational feminism. How did the two Dutch presses relate to feminist presses and feminism abroad, and the other way around? To answer this question, we focus on two aspects of the presses’ work: ideological principles on how to operate a feminist press and translating reprints to create a feminist counter-canon. The results suggest that historians of post-war feminism should not underestimate the impact of book-shaped idea(l)s from European languages and other transnational movements.