wetlands is an editorial project dedicated to the themes of social and environmental sustainability and the challenges of the Anthropocene.

wetlands is a proposal for a new vision of contemporary society, which starting from the ecosystem of the Venice Lagoon reflects on all those places that share its fragility and potential. Moving amphibiously in the space between fiction and non-fiction, wetlands explores environmental, urban, social, anthropological and cultural themes, crossing international perspectives with views on the life and future of Venice. 

wetlands doesn't just publish books, it creates them. The ideas of the authors of the publishing house are born and develop through a constant dialogue with the city of Venice and its Lagoon, inspired by its human and non-human inhabitants. The books are created in close collaboration with the editorial team and  each tells a story that participates in the construction of a rhizomatic, yet cohesive editorial identity. wetlands is a carbon neutral project with a local supply chain: all the books are designed, produced and printed in Venice, on eco-sustainable paper and by local workers. 

wetlands is a non-profit social enterprise and meeting and exchange space. Its path is inspired by principles of equality, participation, valorization of diversity, respect for the environment and cultural pluralism. 

wetlands is here, but it is also elsewhere.

Some of the authors involved in the project: Fatin Abbas, Maaza Mengiste, Paola Somma, Serenella Iovino, Shaul Bassi, Steve Mentz, Gianni Montieri, and many others.

Wetlands was born in Venice in 2021, within the ReActive civic project, with a deliberately hybrid nature that reflects the need to move in the transition spaces between land and water. At the basis of ReActive there's a desire to revive the art of printing, a historic Venetian profession, and to revitalize a profoundly urban tradition. One of the group's objectives is in fact to free Venice from the exclusive role of victim of the tourist monoculture, revealing its vitality as a still creative city, inhabited by people who love and defend it.

Making Venice no longer an object of a tourist monoculture, but a living city with a citizenry still skilled in productivity, with inhabitants who live and defend it. The objective is to produce new ideas and representations of the city that deconstruct the dominant clichés, and promoting alternative visions and plans for living the lagoon.

Editorial manager: Clara Zanardi

Editorial staff: Clara Zanardi, Edoardo Ferrari, Giacomo Maria Salerno, Luca Cosentino, Lucio De Capitani, Nicole Maniero. 

Editorial committee: Arianna Silvestrini, Enrico Bettinello, Lucio De Capitani, Maaza Mengiste, Shaul Bassi, Serenella Iovino. 

Editorial director: Luca Cosentino

Communications manager: Alice Ongaro Sartori

Social media and local press: Elena Scarpa

National Press Office: Roberta de Marchis