Margaret
Atwood
Manuscript
Scribbler
Moon
Moon
2014
“How strange it is to think of my own voice — silent by then for
a
long time — suddenly being awakened, after a hundred years. What is the first thing
that
voice will say, as a not-yet-embodied hand draws it out
of its container and opens it to the first page?”
Margaret Atwood
( Writer )
“It is my dream that Margaret Atwood is writing for Future
Library.
I imagine her words growing through the trees, an unseen energy, activated and
materialized, the tree rings becoming chapters in a book.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Margaret Atwood
( Biography )
Margaret Atwood (b. 1939, Canada)
is the
author of more than forty volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction and
non-fiction. Her work has been published in more than forty languages,
and
she is the recipient of numerous literary awards, including the Booker Prize, the
Arthur C. Clarke Award for best science fiction and the Canadian Booksellers’
Lifetime Achievement Award. A fervent environmentalist and political
activist, Atwood has over 500,000 followers on Twitter. Her works explore the
existential problems of modern humans with satire and humour, often with a starting
point in a speculative universe. Her recent novel, MaddAddam, concludes
her
dystopian trilogy that follows the fate
of mankind through an uncertain future. Her latest work
is a book of short stories called Hag Seed, William Shakespeare’s The Tempest Retold.
Interview
( Margaret Atwood & Katie Paterson )
Future Library
( By Margaret Atwood )
“I was very pleased to
have been invited to be the first author for the Future Library project. Katie
Paterson’s artwork is a meditation on the nature of time. It is
also a tribute to the
written word, the material basis for the transmission of words through time – in this
case, paper – and a proposal of writing itself as a time capsule…”
A New Spring
( By Arve Rød )
“I can hear the sound of melting snow and ice. I’m not talking
about the great ice, the ice cap over Greenland, or the icebergs that break free from
the Antarctic like small continents. This ice is melting
in
the street where I live…”
Handover Ceremony
David
Mitchell
Manuscript
From Me Flows What
You Call Time
You Call Time
2015
“Future Library is a beautiful proposition. It’s almost like
music,
if you talk about it, whatever words you say will be less beautiful than the thing. The
whole thing is a kind of poem, written yes in words, but
also in trees, also in people. It’s a poem made of reality.”
David Mitchell
( Writer )
“David Mitchell makes the world a spirited place. His work is
transporting and polyphonic, blending time, dreams and reality. I am elated he is Future
Library’s 2015 author. His locked-away text will allow
future generations to telescope into other worlds.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
David Mitchell
( Biography )
Born in 1969, David Mitchell grew
up in Worcestershire. After graduating from Kent University, he taught English in
Japan, where he wrote his first novel, Ghostwritten. Published in 1999,
it won the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize and was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book
Award. David Mitchell’s second novel, number9dream, was shortlisted
for the Booker Prize and in 2003 he was named one of Granta’s Best of Young
British Novelists. His third novel, Cloud Atlas, was shortlisted for the Man
Booker Prize in 2004, won the Richard & Judy Best Read of the Year and was adapted
for film in 2012. It was followed by Black Swan Green and The Thousand
Autumns of Jacob de Zoet, both longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. In 2013
with KA Yoshida, Mitchell translated from the Japanese the
internationally bestselling memoir The Reason I Jump. Mitchell was
named one of the one hundred most
influential people in the world by Time in 2007. His latest novel is Slade House. He lives in Ireland with his wife and two children.
Interview
( David Mitchell & Katie Paterson )
The Ayes Have It
( By David Mitchell )
“Late in 2014 I
received an email from a British editor friend. It was about an art project called
Future Library, the brainchild of Scottish artist Katie Paterson,
and
it contained a unique
proposal…”
The Time of an Artwork
( By Lisa Le Feuvre )
“What is the time of an artwork? When does the process
begin and when does it end? These are questions of encounter, rhetorical devices for
trying to articulate why art matters. The space between ends and
beginnings is sometimes hard to recognise..”
Handover Ceremony
Sjón
As My Brow Brushes On The Tunics Of Angels
or
The Drop Tower, the Roller Coaster, the Whirling Cups
and other Instruments of Worship from the Post-Industrial Age
or
The Drop Tower, the Roller Coaster, the Whirling Cups
and other Instruments of Worship from the Post-Industrial Age
2016
“Like the best of games Future Library makes the player aware
of the skills and flaws he or she brings to the playing field, in this case it tests the
fundaments of everything an author must deal with when sincerely engaging with the art
of writing.”
Sjón
( Writer )
“Sjón creates a world of metamorphosis: his poetic works weave
together history and myth, folklore, ancient storytelling, the surreal and the magical.
His writing is dynamic and melodic, and like Future Library, interlaces the human
and natural world through stretches of time.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Sjón
( Biography )
Born in Reykjavík in 1962, Sjón is
an Icelandic author whose novels The Blue Fox, The Whispering Muse,
From the Mouth of the Whale and Moonstone: The Boy Who Never
Was have been translated
into thirty-five languages. He has won several national and international awards, including the Nordic Council's
Literature Prize for The Blue Fox and has also been shortlisted for the
International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and the Independent
Foreign
Fiction Prize. His latest novel Moonstone: The Boy Who Never Was won the
Icelandic Literary Prize. His biggest literary work to date is the trilogy CoDex
1962. In the
lyrical field, Sjón has published nine poetry collections, written four opera
librettos and lyrics for various artists. In 2001 he was nominated for an Oscar for
his lyrics in the film Dancer In The Dark. Sjón is the
president of the Icelandic
PEN Centre. He lives in Iceland with his wife, mezzo-soprano Ágerdur
Júníusdóttir, and their two children.
Interview
( Sjón )
Future Library
( By Sjón )
“My favourite Icelandic folk tale has to do with the future. In it we learn about an old couple who live in extreme poverty on a desolate farm in a dark and narrow valley somewhere beyond the bluest mountains...”
The Manuscripts Stored in Oslo
( By Lars Bang Larsen )
A message in a bottle, a time capsule, a sci-fi leap across time; and at the other end, a window onto the past, an archaeological event, an historical enigma. From the slightly-more-than-human timespan that straddles its alpha and omega, Katie Paterson’s Future Library is all that and, in so many ways, a memento mori…
Handover Ceremony
Elif Shafak
The Last Taboo
2017
"This entire idea of writing a manuscript that will, hopefully, be read in the future is to me like writing a letter now and leaving it in a river. You don’t know where it will go or who will read it – you just believe in the flow of time."
Elif Shafak
( Writer )
“It is pertinent that Elif Shafak joins Future Library as 2017's author. Her work dissolves boundaries:
cultural, geographic, political, ideological, religious, and spiritual, and embraces a plurality of voices.
Her storytelling is magical and profound, creating connectivity between people and places: a signal of
hope at a particularly divided moment in time.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Elif Shafak
( Biography )
Elif Shafak is an award-winning novelist and the most widely read female writer in Turkey. She is also
a political commentator and an inspirational public speaker. She writes in both Turkish and English,
and has published 15 books, 10 of which are novels, including the bestselling The Bastard of Istanbul,
The Forty Rules of Love and most recently Three Daughters of Eve. Her books have been translated
into 47 languages.
Shafak is a TED Global speaker, a member of Weforum Global Agenda Council on Creative Economy in Davos and a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations). She has been awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2010 by the French government.
She has been featured in major newspapers and periodicals around the world, including the Financial Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Der Spiegel and La Repubblica. Shafak has taught at various universities in Turkey, UK and USA. She holds a degree in International Relations, a master’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies and a PhD in Political Science. She is known as a women’s rights, minority rights and LGBT rights advocate.
Shafak has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, MAN Asian Prize; the Baileys Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award, and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize. She sat on the judging panel for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (2013); Sunday Times Short Story Award (2014, 2015), 10th Women of the Future Awards (2015); FT/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices Awards (2015, 2016); Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (2016); Man Booker International Prize (2017) and The Sunday Times / Peter Frasers + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award.
Shafak is a TED Global speaker, a member of Weforum Global Agenda Council on Creative Economy in Davos and a founding member of ECFR (European Council on Foreign Relations). She has been awarded the title of Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres in 2010 by the French government.
She has been featured in major newspapers and periodicals around the world, including the Financial Times, the Guardian, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Der Spiegel and La Repubblica. Shafak has taught at various universities in Turkey, UK and USA. She holds a degree in International Relations, a master’s degree in Gender and Women’s Studies and a PhD in Political Science. She is known as a women’s rights, minority rights and LGBT rights advocate.
Shafak has been longlisted for the Orange Prize, MAN Asian Prize; the Baileys Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award, and shortlisted for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize and RSL Ondaatje Prize. She sat on the judging panel for the Independent Foreign Fiction Prize (2013); Sunday Times Short Story Award (2014, 2015), 10th Women of the Future Awards (2015); FT/Oppenheimer Funds Emerging Voices Awards (2015, 2016); Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction (2016); Man Booker International Prize (2017) and The Sunday Times / Peter Frasers + Dunlop Young Writer of the Year Award.
Interview
( Elif Shafak )
Future Library
( By Elif Shafak )
Handover Ceremony
Han Kang
Dear Son, My Beloved
2018
"My first impression of the concept of Future Library, was that it was a project about time. It deals with the time scope of one hundred years. In Korea, when a couple gets married, people bless them to live together 'for one hundred years'. It sounds like almost an eternity.
I can’t survive one hundred years from now, of course. No-one who I love can survive, either. This relentless fact has made me reflect on the essential part of my life. Why do I write? Who am I talking to, when I write? Then I imagined a world, where no-one I love exists any longer. And in that world, the trees in Norway still exist, who I once met when I was alive. The clear gap of the lifespan between humans and trees struck me. This meditation is so strong that it has the power to directly open our eyes to the impermanence of our mortal lives and all the more precious fragility of our lives.
Ultimately Future Library deals with the fate of paper books. I would like to pray for the fates of both humans and books. May they survive and embrace each other, in and after one hundred years, even though they couldn’t reach eternity…"
I can’t survive one hundred years from now, of course. No-one who I love can survive, either. This relentless fact has made me reflect on the essential part of my life. Why do I write? Who am I talking to, when I write? Then I imagined a world, where no-one I love exists any longer. And in that world, the trees in Norway still exist, who I once met when I was alive. The clear gap of the lifespan between humans and trees struck me. This meditation is so strong that it has the power to directly open our eyes to the impermanence of our mortal lives and all the more precious fragility of our lives.
Ultimately Future Library deals with the fate of paper books. I would like to pray for the fates of both humans and books. May they survive and embrace each other, in and after one hundred years, even though they couldn’t reach eternity…"
Han Kang
( Writer )
“Han Kang expands our view of the world. Her stories are disquieting and subversive, exploring violence, cruelty, fleeting life, and the acceptance of human fragility. As 2018’s author, Han Kang makes us confront uncomfortable issues: injustice, pain, mourning and remembering; a shared loss of trust in humankind, alongside the belief in human dignity. She leads us into the very heart of human experience, with writing that is deeply tender, and transformative. I believe her sentiments will be carried through trees, received decades from now, still timeless.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Han Kang
( Biography )
Han Kang was born in 1970, in Gwang-ju, South Korea. When she was nine years old she moved with her family to Seoul, where she spent her formative years. After studying Korean literature, Han Kang worked as an editor for a cultural magazine and a book review journal. In 1993 she made her debut as a poet and in 1994 she won the Seoul Daily News short story competition. Since then, she has published three collections of short stories, one collection of poetry and seven novels, including Your Cold Hands, The Vegetarian (winner of the Man Booker International Prize for fiction in 2016), Human Acts (winner of the Malaparte Prize in 2017) and The White Book.
Interview
( Han Kang )
Future Library
( By Han Kang )
Handover Ceremony
Karl Ove Knausgård
2019
"It's such a brilliant idea, I very much like the thought that you will have readers who are still not born – it’s like sending a little ship from our time to them. I like that it will be opened in 100 years and I like the slowness of the forest growing, that everything is connected. It’s such a wonderful green artwork"
Karl Ove Knausgård
( Writer )
“Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard is one of the most exceptional authors of the 21st century. For Knausgaard the duty of literature is “to find a way into the world as it is”. His epic portraits of human life - immersive, magnetic and absorbing - have created a disruption in contemporary fiction. He finds the sublime in the everyday, and dissolves boundaries between imagination and reality through acts of radical self-exposure. Shockingly open and intimate, his novels are a confession of our time. We welcome him as Future Library’s sixth author.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Karl Ove Knausgård
( Biography )
Karl Ove Knausgård (b.1968) published his first novel, Out of the World in 1998; it was the first debut novel ever to win the National Critic´s Prize (Kritikerprisen). His critically acclaimed second novel A Time for Everything was published in 2004. For this he received the National Broadcasting literary award (P2-lytternes romanpris), and the book was nominated to the Critic's Prize and the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize. A time for Everything was voted one of the 25 best Norwegian books in the last 25 years by the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet in the summer of 2006, and in 2009 the novel was nominated to the prestigious IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
Karl Ove Knausgård’s third novel entailed a huge literary effort, and is a great book in more than one sense: My Struggle was published as six novels. For My Struggle. Book One Knausgård received the Brage Prize, the National Broadcasting literary award and was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize, the National Critic's Prize and the Bookseller´s Prize.
Karl Ove Knausgård’s third novel entailed a huge literary effort, and is a great book in more than one sense: My Struggle was published as six novels. For My Struggle. Book One Knausgård received the Brage Prize, the National Broadcasting literary award and was nominated for the Nordic Council’s Literary Prize, the National Critic's Prize and the Bookseller´s Prize.
Interview
( Karl Ove Knausgård )
Future Library
( By Karl Ove Knausgård )
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Ocean Vuong
2020
"One of the most engaging promises of literature is that it speaks both to the present and, if lucky, to the future. So to be a part of Future Library, a project that so courageously hopes for and is built towards a human future nearly a century ahead of us, feels like the daring and exhilarating optimism that is required of any literary work. In a way, this project is no different than the project of living on Earth, in that every death is also the death of a library. So to preserve one in this way feels like the antithesis of dying, and yet we must die to get there."
Ocean Vuong
( Writer )
“Ocean Vuong writes with a radiance unlike any author I know of. Transforming a ‘hurricane of feeling’ into images of pure, startling beauty, he proves language can penetrate deeper than even human touch. Ocean Vuong’s poetry and prose is raw and fearless, capturing the essence of survival. In a year of unprecedented global suffering, we are fortunate to welcome this remarkable writer to Future Library, a leading voice of the young, LBGT+ immigrant experience.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Ocean Vuong
( Biography )
Ocean Vuong (b.1988) is an award-winning poet, essayist and novelist. He is the author of The New York Times bestselling novel, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous, out from Penguin Press (2019) and forthcoming in 31 languages. A recipient of a 2019 MacArthur "Genius" Grant, he is also the author of the critically acclaimed poetry collection, Night Sky with Exit Wounds, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2016, winner of the T.S. Eliot Prize, the Whiting Award, the Thom Gunn Award, and the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. A Ruth Lilly fellow from the Poetry Foundation, his honors include fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Civitella Ranieri Foundation, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Academy of American Poets, and the Pushcart Prize.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Vuong's writings have been featured in The Atlantic, Granta, Harpers, The Nation, New Republic, The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Village Voice, and American Poetry Review, which awarded him the Stanley Kunitz Prize for Younger Poets. Selected by Foreign Policy magazine as a 2016 100 Leading Global Thinker, Ocean was also named by BuzzFeed Books as one of “32 Essential Asian American Writers” and has been profiled on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” PBS NewsHour, Teen Vogue, Interview, Poets & Writers, and The New Yorker.
Born in Saigon, Vietnam, he lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, where he serves as an Associate Professor in the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at UMass-Amherst.
Information
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Katie Paterson
Vatnajökull (the sound of), 2007-8
A live phone-line to a distant glacier.
Earth–Moon–Earth (Moonlight Sonata Reflected from the Surface of the Moon),
2007
Beethoven's
Moonlight Sonata, reflected from the moon's surface.
Streetlight Storm, 2009
Pier lights flickering in time with lightning
storms.
Timepieces (Solar System), 2014
A series of clocks that tell the time on
other
planets.
All the Dead Stars, 2009
A map of every dead star in the universe.
Totality, 2016
A mirror ball reflecting every solar eclipse.
Campo del Cielo, Field of the Sky, 2012-14
A meteorite, recast, and
returned to
space.
Ara, 2016
Festoon lights matching the brightness of a constellation of
stars.
Langjökull, Snæfellsjökull, Solheimajökull, 2007
Records of glacial ice
played
until they melt.
100 Billion Suns, 2011
Confetti colour matched to the brightest cosmic
explosions.
Inside this desert lies the tiniest grain of sand, 2010
A grain of sand
carved to
only a few atoms.
The Dying Star Letters, 2011
A series of letters announcing stellar
deaths.
Candle (from Earth into a Black Hole), 2015
A candle scented as if
journeying
from planet to planet.
Fossil Necklace, 2013
A necklace of carved, rounded fossils, spanning
geological
time.
Hollow, 2016, with Zeller &
Moye
A microcosmos of every tree on earth
Light bulb to Simulate Moonlight, 2008
A light bulb recreating the glow of
a full
moon.
History of Darkness, 2011
An archive of darkness from throughout the
universe.
Second Moon, 2013-14
A fragment of the moon posted around the earth.
As the World Turns, 2010
A record player turning in time with the earth’s
rotation.
The artist behind Future Library, Katie Paterson (b. 1981, Scotland) is widely
regarded as one of the leading artists of her
generation. Collaborating with scientists and researchers across the world, Paterson’s
projects consider our place on
earth in the context of geological time and change. Her artworks make use of sophisticated
technologies and specialist expertise to stage intimate, poetic and philosophical
engagements between people and their natural environment.
Combining a Romantic sensibility with a research-based approach, conceptual rigour and
coolly
minimalist presentation, her work collapses the distance between the viewer and the most
distant edges of time and the cosmos.
Katie Paterson has broadcast the sounds of a melting glacier live, mapped all the dead stars, compiled a slide archive of darkness from the depths of the Universe, created a light bulb to simulate the experience of moonlight, and sent a recast meteorite back into space. Eliciting feelings of humility, wonder and melancholy akin to the experience of the Romantic sublime, Paterson's work is at once understated in gesture and yet monumental in scope.
Katie has exhibited internationally, from London to New York, Berlin to Seoul, and her works have been included in major exhibitions including Hayward Gallery, Tate Britain, Kunsthalle Wien, MCA Sydney, Guggenheim Museum, New York, and The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. She was winner of the Visual Arts category of the 2014 South Bank Awards.
Katie Paterson has broadcast the sounds of a melting glacier live, mapped all the dead stars, compiled a slide archive of darkness from the depths of the Universe, created a light bulb to simulate the experience of moonlight, and sent a recast meteorite back into space. Eliciting feelings of humility, wonder and melancholy akin to the experience of the Romantic sublime, Paterson's work is at once understated in gesture and yet monumental in scope.
Katie has exhibited internationally, from London to New York, Berlin to Seoul, and her works have been included in major exhibitions including Hayward Gallery, Tate Britain, Kunsthalle Wien, MCA Sydney, Guggenheim Museum, New York, and The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh. She was winner of the Visual Arts category of the 2014 South Bank Awards.
The
Future Library Trust
Ingeri Engelstad
Publishing Director at Oktober Press
Håkon Harket
Publishing Director of Forlaget Press
Anne Beate Hovind
Project Director Bjørvika Utvikling and Chair of the Trust
Katie Paterson
Artist
Liv Sæteren
Former Director of the Deichmanske Bibliotek
Simon Prosser
Publishing Director of Hamish Hamilton
The paramount objective of the Future Library Trust is to select and invite the authors, and
to compassionately sustain the
artwork for its one hundred year duration.
The Future Library trustees include artist Katie Paterson, Publishing Director of Hamish Hamilton Simon Prosser, Former Director of the Deichmanske Bibliotek Liv Sæteren, Publishing Director of Forlaget Press Håkon Harket, Editor-in-Chief of Oktober Press Ingeri Engelstad and Anne Beate Hovind, Project Director at Bjørvika Utvikling, and Chair of the Trust.
The authors are being selected for their outstanding contributions to literature and poetry and for their works’ ability to capture the imagination of this and future generations. Key words in the selection process are “imagination” and “time”. The Trust is inviting one hundred outstanding writers of any nationality or age to contribute works in any genre or language. The length of the piece is entirely for the author to decide.
The Future Library trustees include artist Katie Paterson, Publishing Director of Hamish Hamilton Simon Prosser, Former Director of the Deichmanske Bibliotek Liv Sæteren, Publishing Director of Forlaget Press Håkon Harket, Editor-in-Chief of Oktober Press Ingeri Engelstad and Anne Beate Hovind, Project Director at Bjørvika Utvikling, and Chair of the Trust.
The authors are being selected for their outstanding contributions to literature and poetry and for their works’ ability to capture the imagination of this and future generations. Key words in the selection process are “imagination” and “time”. The Trust is inviting one hundred outstanding writers of any nationality or age to contribute works in any genre or language. The length of the piece is entirely for the author to decide.
How to get there
( Geo Coordinates: 59°59'10.8"N
10°41'48.7"E )
Nordmarka is a forested area to the North of Oslo. Norwegian spruce (Picea abies), birch
(Betula pubescens) and pine (Pinus sylvestris) flourish in this area, which is protected by
the city against the threat of urban sprawl. With the
guidance of foresters from the Agency of Urban Environment who have been tending this land
for over one hundred years, Katie Paterson planted one thousand Norwegian spruce trees in
May 2014. A
number of existing spruce, birch and fir remain in the
forest, to allow it to regenerate from its own seedbank. Visitors are able to visit the
Future Library forest, which is located a 30 minute hike from Frognerseteren Station.
Support Us
Katie Paterson has created a limited edition artwork, a certificate entitling the owner
to one complete set of the one hundred texts printed on the paper made from the Future
Library
trees
after they are fully grown and cut down in 2114. The
proceeds support the running of the project over its one hundred year duration. For more
information
please contact the artist's galleries:
USA
James Cohan Gallery, New York — Contact
Donations
If you would like to make a donation to Future Library please contact — Anne Beate Hovind
Acknowledgments
Support for this one hundred year long artwork has been given by the City of Oslo, which
are working with the artist and Future Library Trust to ensure the protection of the
forest and manuscripts until the year 2114. Conceived by Katie Paterson, Future
Library
is commissioned and produced by Bjørvika Utvikling and managed by the Future Library
Trust. Supported by the City of Oslo, Agency for Cultural Affairs and Agency for Urban
Environment. Hosted by the Deichmanske Bibliotek, Oslo. Library room design with
architects Atelier Oslo and Lund Hagem.
We extend our deepest gratitude to the authors Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, and Sjón. To Anne Beate Hovind, Project Director, Bjørvika Utvikling. To the Future Library Trust: Ingeri Engelstad, Håkon Harket, Simon Prosser, and Liv Sæteren. To the foresters Jon Karl Christiansen, Eivind Johan Birkeland, Trond Enkerud, Vidar Veli-Matti Gjølmo, Jon Hagen, Knut Johansson, and Frank Thomassen. To the architects Nils Ole Brandtzæg and the team at Atelier Oslo; Svein Lund and the team at Lund Hagem. To the essayists Arve Rød, and Lisa Le Feuvre. To graphic designers Fraser Muggeridge Studio. To the whole Future Library team, assisted by Siobhàn Maguire, Vibeke Hermanrud, Claire McAree, Jarl Solberg, Martin John Callanan, and Isabel Paterson. To filmmaker Giorgia Polizzi. To all those at the Deichmanske Bibliotek. To photographer Kristin Von Hirsch. To Lillehammer Literature Festival. To Oslo Business Region. To Adam Asnan for his sound composition.
Photo credits. Margaret Atwood: photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2015. David Mitchell: photo © Brendan McNeill, 2015. Sjón: photo © Thomas A, 2016. Information page. Artist: photo © Oliver Mark, 2014; photo © Katie Paterson, 2008; photo © Andy Keate, 2008; photo © MJC, 2009; photo © John McKenzie, 2014; photo © MJC, 2010; photo © Ben Blackall, 2016; photo © Giorgia Polizzi, 2012; photo © Ben Blackall, 2016; photo © Katie Paterson, 2007; photo © MJC, 2011; photo © MJC, 2011; photo © MJC, 2011; photo © Blaise Adilon, 2015; photo © John McKenzie, 2014; photo © Max McClure, 2016; photo © Ingleby Gallery, 2011; photo © Peter Mallet, 2012; photo © MJC, 2013; photo © MJC, 2011. Trust: photos © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014. Certificate: photos © Blaise Adilon, 2015. The Artwork page: photo © Vibeke Hermanrud, 2014; photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch; photo © MJC, 2014; photo © Skoyts AS www.skoyts.com; photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014; photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014; photo © Giorgia Polizzi, 2014; all photos © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2016. Silent room photos: © Atelier Oslo / Lund Hagem, 2016; Handover: all photos © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014-15. All films by Giorgia Polizzi, 2013-2016. Website sound by Adam Asnan.
We extend our deepest gratitude to the authors Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, and Sjón. To Anne Beate Hovind, Project Director, Bjørvika Utvikling. To the Future Library Trust: Ingeri Engelstad, Håkon Harket, Simon Prosser, and Liv Sæteren. To the foresters Jon Karl Christiansen, Eivind Johan Birkeland, Trond Enkerud, Vidar Veli-Matti Gjølmo, Jon Hagen, Knut Johansson, and Frank Thomassen. To the architects Nils Ole Brandtzæg and the team at Atelier Oslo; Svein Lund and the team at Lund Hagem. To the essayists Arve Rød, and Lisa Le Feuvre. To graphic designers Fraser Muggeridge Studio. To the whole Future Library team, assisted by Siobhàn Maguire, Vibeke Hermanrud, Claire McAree, Jarl Solberg, Martin John Callanan, and Isabel Paterson. To filmmaker Giorgia Polizzi. To all those at the Deichmanske Bibliotek. To photographer Kristin Von Hirsch. To Lillehammer Literature Festival. To Oslo Business Region. To Adam Asnan for his sound composition.
Photo credits. Margaret Atwood: photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2015. David Mitchell: photo © Brendan McNeill, 2015. Sjón: photo © Thomas A, 2016. Information page. Artist: photo © Oliver Mark, 2014; photo © Katie Paterson, 2008; photo © Andy Keate, 2008; photo © MJC, 2009; photo © John McKenzie, 2014; photo © MJC, 2010; photo © Ben Blackall, 2016; photo © Giorgia Polizzi, 2012; photo © Ben Blackall, 2016; photo © Katie Paterson, 2007; photo © MJC, 2011; photo © MJC, 2011; photo © MJC, 2011; photo © Blaise Adilon, 2015; photo © John McKenzie, 2014; photo © Max McClure, 2016; photo © Ingleby Gallery, 2011; photo © Peter Mallet, 2012; photo © MJC, 2013; photo © MJC, 2011. Trust: photos © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014. Certificate: photos © Blaise Adilon, 2015. The Artwork page: photo © Vibeke Hermanrud, 2014; photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch; photo © MJC, 2014; photo © Skoyts AS www.skoyts.com; photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014; photo © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014; photo © Giorgia Polizzi, 2014; all photos © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2016. Silent room photos: © Atelier Oslo / Lund Hagem, 2016; Handover: all photos © Bjørvika Utvikling by Kristin von Hirsch, 2014-15. All films by Giorgia Polizzi, 2013-2016. Website sound by Adam Asnan.
Contact
Anne Beate Hovind
Project Director / Bjørvika Utvikling
and Chair of the Future Library Trust
and Chair of the Future Library Trust
bjorvikautvikling.no
+47(0)909 42528
The Artwork
Scottish artist Katie Paterson has created a one hundred year artwork
Future
Library
"Framtidsbiblioteket" for the city of Oslo
in Norway.
One thousand trees have been planted in Nordmarka, a forest just
outside
Oslo, which will supply paper for a special anthology of books to be printed in one hundred
years time. Between now and then, one writer
every
year will contribute a text, with the writings held in trust, unpublished, until the year
2114.
Tending the forest and ensuring its preservation for the one hundred year duration of the
artwork
finds a conceptual counterpoint in the invitation
extended
to each writer: to conceive and produce a work in the hopes of finding a receptive reader in
an unknown future.
The prizewinning author, poet, essayist and literary critic Margaret
Atwood was the first writer
to contribute to the project. The multi-award winning British novelist David Mitchell followed
as 2015’s author, and celebrated Icelandic
novelist Sjón is Future Library’s contributing author
for 2016.
“Future Library is a living, breathing, organic artwork, unfolding over one hundred years. It will live and breathe through the material growth of the trees — I imagine the tree rings as chapters in a book. The unwritten words, year by year, activated, materialized. The visitor’s experience of being in the forest, changing over decades, being aware of the slow growth of the trees containing the writers’ ideas like an unseen energy.”
The manuscripts will be held in trust in a specially designed room in the New Deichmanske Library opening in 2020 in Bjørvika, Oslo. Intended to be a space of contemplation, this room will be lined with wood from the forest. The authors’ names and titles of their works will be on display, but none of the manuscripts will be available for reading – until their publication in one century’s time.
“Future Library is a living, breathing, organic artwork, unfolding over one hundred years. It will live and breathe through the material growth of the trees — I imagine the tree rings as chapters in a book. The unwritten words, year by year, activated, materialized. The visitor’s experience of being in the forest, changing over decades, being aware of the slow growth of the trees containing the writers’ ideas like an unseen energy.”
The manuscripts will be held in trust in a specially designed room in the New Deichmanske Library opening in 2020 in Bjørvika, Oslo. Intended to be a space of contemplation, this room will be lined with wood from the forest. The authors’ names and titles of their works will be on display, but none of the manuscripts will be available for reading – until their publication in one century’s time.
“Future Library has nature, the environment at its core — and involves ecology, the
interconnectedness of things, those living now and still to come. It questions the present
tendency to think in short bursts of time, making
decisions
only for us living now. The timescale is one hundred years, not vast in cosmic terms.
However, in
many ways the human timescale of one hundred years is more confronting. It is beyond many of
our
current lifespans, but close enough to come face to
face
with it, to comprehend and relativise.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Silent Room
Hailed by many as a ‘library of the future’, the New Deichmanske Bibliotek - Oslo
City
Library - will open its doors to the public in 2019. The one hundred unread and unpublished
texts
will be held here in a specially designed room, lined
with
wood from the forest.
The Future Library room will be situated on the top floor of the library along with the special collection of books and archives. It will face in the direction of the forest, which can be glimpsed on the horizon. It will be a small, intimate room, encouraging only one or two people at a time. The authors’ names and titles of their works will be on display, but none of the manuscripts will be available for reading – until their publication in one century’s time.
The design is in collaboration with architects Lund Hagem and Atelier Oslo.
The Future Library room will be situated on the top floor of the library along with the special collection of books and archives. It will face in the direction of the forest, which can be glimpsed on the horizon. It will be a small, intimate room, encouraging only one or two people at a time. The authors’ names and titles of their works will be on display, but none of the manuscripts will be available for reading – until their publication in one century’s time.
The design is in collaboration with architects Lund Hagem and Atelier Oslo.
“We are building the Silent Room using the trees we cleared from the forest, still
containing their scent. The atmosphere is key in our design, aiming to create a sense of
quietude, peacefulness, a contemplative space which can
allow
the imagination to journey to the forest, the trees, the writing, the deep time, the
invisible connections, the mystery.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
Handover Ceremony
“There is a magical, contemplative feeling in the
forest. We encourage people to visit, to take this journey, and over the decades, watch
the forest grow and change. Year by year, the
writers'
words forming invisible chapters in the trees whose narratives will be reconstituted a
century later.”
Katie Paterson
( Artist )
A special ceremony in the forest each spring marks the handover of the author’s manuscript.
This
event is free and open to all. The handover event is at the heart of Future Library.
It is
a ritual which has two important sites for all
the
authors over the next one hundred years: the forest and the library. The day involves a
public walk
into the forest, where the author gives a reading; then a question and answer event in the
Deichmanske library in Oslo. The story-telling
event in the forest and the in-conversation event in the library will continue for
generations.
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