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Stichting Kalenda · Rotterdam · sinds 2014

No month without word.

Stichting Kalenda is a small foundation in Rotterdam. Once a month we post a typed letter to anyone who asks for one, recapping the month that has just ended. We have done this since 2014. We have not missed one.

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Met steun van.

and one private donor who prefers not to be named

Sinds 2014 · Rotterdam

Each month deserves a letter.

We started small. One letter to one person, in February of 2014. The next month, two. Word travelled, slowly, as we prefer.

↪ Brief №1 verstuurd op 8 februari 2014.

The work is unhurried. The post is reliable. Every month gets the same care, including the boring ones, which deserve it most.

We are three people, one typewriter, one room. The room is small. The window faces a canal. The canal does not move much. A stamp costs €5. You can become a Vriend for the price of one.

We have written 4,318 letters across 127 months for 812 Vrienden van Kalenda · with one notable exception.*

* one letter, hand-written, March 2019

Lezers · 2026

People who receive a letter.

They asked for one. We have written to them ever since.

In de post

What arrives in the post.

The envelope.

Kraft paper, red wax seal, Rotterdam postmark. We use too much wax. We are aware of this.

The letter.

One sheet of A5, typed, signed. Sometimes a typo. We do not correct typos; we let them stand as a record.

The annual book.

At the end of the year, for Vrienden van Kalenda. Bound in linen by a man named Cor.

Werkwijze

How a letter is written.

  1. 01 1st–28th

    We observe the month.

    Throughout the previous month we keep notes. The weather. Public holidays. The mood, where one can be sensed. We do not check our work. There is no one to check it against.

  2. 02 1st–7th

    We write it down.

    On the first of the month, we begin typing. There are three of us. We trade off. Each letter takes about forty minutes, sometimes more if the month was complicated, which most of them are.

  3. 03 On the 8th

    We post it on the eighth.

    We walk to the postbox together. This is tradition. The eighth is chosen because the seventh is already too late and the ninth feels rushed.

Vrienden van Kalenda

Help us keep writing.

Your support pays for postage, paper, ink, and an afternoon at the typewriter. Mostly the postage.

Twelve letters, bound in linen at year's end. For Vrienden van de Maand and above.

covers a sheet of paper, the envelope, the wax seal, and a small thank-you we will not pressure you to display.

Vragen

Things people write to us.

  • 01 Is this real?

    No. Kalenda is invented, made by Parnav Studio as a portfolio piece. The joke is only good if it is thorough enough to almost pass for real. Almost.

  • 02 Is this useful?

    That depends on what you mean by useful. We prefer not to ask.

  • 03 May I request a letter?

    Yes. Free, for anyone, one per month. Even if you already have one.

  • 04 What is in it?

    The month that has just ended. Sometimes the month before, if it still felt unfinished.

  • 05 Why would anyone send such a thing?

    Because nobody else was doing it. We looked.

  • 06 How do I know I am on the list?

    You will know on the eighth. If no letter has arrived, the post was late. It will come.

Request your first letter.

We will write to you on the eighth of next month. Do not worry about the seventh.

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