Maya De Leo (she/they) is nominated for her impressive work as both an academic and queer activist. Maya De Leo obtained her PhD in History at the University of Pisa with a multiple award winning thesis on the representations of homosexuality in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her research interests focus on the cultural history of LGBTQIA+ communities and queer theories. On these topics she has published numerous contributions in scientific journals and collective volumes. She has taught Gender History at the University of Genova and History of Homosexuality at the University of Turin. In 2018, the opening of this course – the first of its kind in Italy – has faced brutal attacks by right-wing political groups. Her recent book, Queer. Storia culturale della comunità LGBT+ (Einaudi, 2021) has been a huge publishing success and has been awarded the 2022 SISSCO prize for best first work by the Italian Society for the Study of Contemporary History. While Italy is a country still strongly marked by sexism, homophobia, lesbophobia, biphobia and transphobia, Maya De Leo’s work has become a vital reference point for LGBTQIA+ people.