Currently Tomi Huttunen is involved with editing Utopia: The Avant-Garde, Modernism and (Im)possible Life, the publication of the European Network for Avant-Garde and Modernism Studies. He also sits on the advisory board of Slovo, the journal of Slavic languages and literatures at Uppsala University, the editorial board of the Slavica Helsingiensia series, and the editorial board of the avant-garde magazine Another Hemisphere. He has taught at Finnish universities and institutes as well as at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow, Smolny College at St Petersburg State University, and Ca' Foscari University of Venice, all of which have bilateral exchange agreements with the Department of Russian language and literature.

Dr Huttunen was guest editor for a special issue of Sign Systems Studies, the journal founded in 1964 by Juri Lotman in Tartu. He has also co-edited three books for the Novoe Literaturnoe Obozrenie publishing house in Moscow. A fourth book, Transnational Russian Culture, is due for release in 2017.

Dr Huttunen is a welcome guest on panel discussions on Russian literature and issues of Russian culture in general. He was a participant in the Finnish-Russian Cultural Forum in September 2015. He also sits on the board of the Fund for the 150th Anniversary of Regular Legislative Work in Finland. The Fund strives to increase the popularity of studying the Russian language, improve learning outcomes and advance understanding of Russian culture.

The theme for the 2015 Helsinki Book Fair is Russian literature and culture. The theme was established in late 2014, to mixed reactions. In the current political climate, with the crisis in Ukraine close to becoming open war, sanctions were considered, and the wisdom of showcasing Russian literature and culture at the book fair was questioned. Will the authors bring with them a flood of Russian propaganda?

Such concern was understandable to anyone following the Finnish media and their way of presenting Russia and Russian culture. The fear of Russia sells. A threat to the Finnish way of life gets people to buy papers, to read, to click on links. How could Finns know what kind of literature has been written in Russia in the last couple of decades?

After the theme was announced, phones started ringing at the university. Any number of publishers, associations, foundations, libraries, and cultural actors of all kinds, even the Book Fair organisers themselves, wanted to find out what modern Russian literature was like, how to showcase its many voices at the Book Fair. People became active, and the expertise of the University of Helsinki in modern Russian literature was suddenly in high demand. New translations into Finnish were planned, translators were needed, statements were requested.

The final result looks exciting: more than 30 Russian authors, most previously unknown in Finland. Nevertheless, there are familiar names among them too. Some are global best-selling authors who wanted to come when they heard who else was coming. Some are unknown young authors who may have already received new author prizes in Russia but still lack translations. Some are angry young men – far too few women. There are poets, prose authors, playwrights, and children's authors. Now the interested Finnish reader is sure to get their fill of the state of Russian literature today.

The Helsinki Book Fair will be held on 22 – 25 October 2015 in Messukeskus Helsinki, Expo and Convention Centre. The Book Fair includes fifteen stages which will play host to more than 800 events with more than 1,100 presenters. A broad range of Russian literature will be presented, and in many voices. There will be 34 Russian authors in Helsinki, and more than 80 events on Russia.