Calendar

A collection of essays in the form of a daybook, written in real-time over a year. Calendar is about tuning in to the unexpected, playful, and solemn lives of the objects around us.

Calendar is an essay collection in the form of a daybook, crafted in real-time throughout a year. The book is inspired by writers who employ experiments and constraints, such as Georges Perec/Oulipo and Bernadette Mayer, alongside autobiographical writers who use inventive structures, like Christina Sharpe in Ordinary Notes and Sheila Heti in Alphabetical Diaries. Based on the French Republican calendar of the late 18th century, where every day was dedicated to an object, this book applies the same concept to objects from contemporary life.

For an entire year, Vanessa Berry focused on her daily experiences with objects. Each evening, she wrote an essay inspired by one object and created an illustration of it. By combining the narrative of a year with stories of 365 objects, Calendar encourages readers to tune in to the unexpected, playful, and solemn lives of the objects around us.