Dr Michela Baldo

• 2009: PhD in Translation Studies (2009), The University of Manchester (UK)
• 2004: MA in Translation Studies - The University of Manchester (UK)
• 2000: BA in Classics, Italian and Modern Greek - The University of Padova (Italy)

I graduated in Classics, Italian and Modern Greek Language at the University of Padova in 2000. I moved to the UK in 2002 and I completed a MA (2004) and PhD (2009) in Translation Studies at the University of Manchester. While studying I worked as a part-time freelance translator and I taught Italian language both in secondary schools and at the University of Manchester. After completing my PhD, I worked as a research assistant in an ESRC research project on bilingualism at the University of Manchester and subsequently I took posts as a researcher, teaching fellow or lecturer in Translation Studies at the Universities of Birmingham, Siena (Italy), Leicester and Hull. During these years I also worked for periods as a freelance translator, specialising in the translation into Italian of academic works on queer studies and feminist studies. I joined again the University of Birmingham in September 2020.  

My teaching is concentrated at postgraduate level. I teach core and optional MA modules in Translation Studies, both for campus and Distance learning students, such as Translating for Business, Theoretical and Analytical Skills, Contemporary Theories of Translation and Specialised Translation.

I am keen to supervise research projects on feminist and queer translation, audiovisual translation and translation of diaspora writing

One strand of my research revolves around the translation into Italian of Italian-Canadian works, especially women’s works, with a specific focus on issues such as queerness and self-translation. On the subject I published the book Italian-Canadian Narratives of Return: Analysing Cultural Translation in Diasporic Writing (Palgrave 2019). Another strand of my research concerns the role of translation in Italian queer feminist activism. I am mainly interested in exploring the concepts of performativity and affect in relation to how translations are performed and received within these scenarios. On the topic I have published a few articles and chapters and I am currently co-editing with Jonathan Evans and Ting Guo a special issue of TIS (Translation and Interpreting Studies) on Translation and LGBT/Queer activism. In 2020 I also completed, with co-translator Elena Basile, the translation into English of the book by Italian scholar Lorenzo Bernini Queer Theories. An Introduction (Routledge 2020).