The new literary calendar (Kirjallisuuskalenteri.fi) simply needed to be invented. It was sorely needed, and my employer, the poetry community Nihil Interit, had been talking about it for a long time. Demands for a calendar and for a general improvement to publicity and communications in the literary sector had also been vocalized on the Runografi poetry portal – as well as many other places. Now the literary calendar is finally becoming reality as part of Tekstin talo’s operations. Brilliant! Time for a fanfare.

The calendar is launched at a time when the culture sections of newspapers and magazines are rapidly shrinking. It is harder and harder to get literary news and events featured in cultural media in Finland. Culture journalism is increasingly focused on entertainment, and the old ethos of information provision is quickly being replaced by metrics-centred populist clickbaiting. In recruitment, media favour the ability to film videos in portrait mode over knowledge of the sector as core competences. In other words, we need new tools to respond to present changes – changes which are not entirely positive.

From now on, Kirjallisuuskalenteri.fi will be a one-stop shop for Finnish literary news, reporting, events and contacts. This will clearly improve the visibility of the whole sector. Additionally, the focus will not be purely on the Helsinki region or on acting as a gatekeeper for content: from its inception, the literary calendar will be a nationwide operator that welcomes all individuals and organizations in the sector, regardless of their postcode or genre.

The calendar will be useful not only for publicizing events, but also for improving scheduling in the field; the portal makes it possible to coordinate the timing of courses, events and meetings to avoid unnecessary overlaps. This is something else that my organization has been talking about for years. Finally we have the answer to our prayers. Great!

I for one do not expect to see vertical videos or toilet-related clickbait in the literary calendar – not to mention any media populism that values emotional reactivity over proper information provision. Nor do I see a need for recruiting any erstwhile “star critics” to boost the literary sector’s new image. Acerbic critics who pan performers in unidirectional media are so twentieth century. Or should be, at least.

What I do expect is newly enthusiastic and accessible, multidirectional cultural communications that can get the greater public excited about the world of literature and text, while sticking strictly to a factual basis. If the literary calendar can pull this off, it will benefit the Finnish cultural sector as a whole – nay, the whole society, in this political climate that is inclined towards populism and biased against culture. I hardly need give examples of this status quo.

Jari Nikkola

The writer is the Executive Director of Nihil Interit and a member of the steering group for Kirjallisuuskalenteri.fi.