Image courtesy of Katie Paterson Studio. Photo by Kristin von Hirsch.
On Sunday, May 26, 2024, in the Nordmarka Forest, Oslo, Norway, Katie Paterson and The Future Library Trust will join members of the public for an intimate handover ceremony that marks the first decade of Future Library. Visitors can join the 2023 author, Valeria Luiselli, who will hand over her manuscript, and walk through the trees to a clearing filled with one thousand 10-year-old spruce saplings: the Future Library forest.
Future Library is a public artwork by Scottish artist Katie Paterson that will unfold over a century in the city of Oslo, Norway. Each year, an author is invited to contribute a text that will go unread and unpublished until 2114, when the trees planted in the Future Library forest will be harvested to print an anthology of 100 books. Margaret Atwood was the first author to contribute in 2014, followed by David Mitchell in 2015, Sjón in 2016, Elif Shafak in 2017, Han Kang in 2018, Karl Ove Knausgård in 2019, Ocean Vuong in 2020, Tsitsi Dangarembga 2021, and Judith Schalansky in 2022.
Join the handover ceremony remotely on Sunday, May 26 at 9:45 AM - 4 PM CEST (3:45 AM - 10 AM ET).
The day will begin at 9:45 AM CEST (3:45 AM ET) at Frognerseteren station, a short train ride from Oslo city centre. From here, Luiselli will lead a 30 minute walk to the Future Library forest where the ceremony will be held, lasting approximately 1 hour. Please dress for a stroll in the woods.
After the forest handover, at 2:30 PM CEST (8:30 AM ET) an in-conversation event with Valeria Luiselli will take place in the Deichman Library, Oslo, moderated by literary critic Carina Elisabeth Beddari. Luiselli will place her manuscript into its drawer inside the Silent Room. The events will begin at 2:30pm. They are open and free for all, and will take place in English.
In conjunction with the ten-year anniversary of Future Library, the symposium “Transmitting the Intangible” will take place on May 27-28, 2024 at the Nordic Black Theatre, Cafeteatret in Oslo. This two-day hybrid event of online and offline presentations, workshops, and panel discussions, looks to explore various forms of indigenous cultural preservation. Register here.