[Photo: Kristin von Hirsch]
Hovind is also part of another truly unique project—Future Library, already award-winning though its much lauded Silent Room won’t open until 2019. It’s attracted the likes of Margaret Atwood, among others. Scottish artist Katie Paterson conceived of and launched the Future Library project in 2014, with plans to commission one unpublished book from a different author each year for 100 years, only to be published in 2114. Those stories will then be printed on paper made from 1,000 trees planted in the forest just north of Oslo for this purpose. The books will be on display in the Silent Room when it opens, but you won’t be able to read them for a century. Most likely, none of us will be reading them at all. But hopefully, someone will. “It’s about hope. It’s about trust,” Hovind says.
Each year, the author travels to Oslo for a ceremony in the forest before sealing the stories away in the library. The first year featured Atwood; last year it was David Mitchell; and this June Icelandic author Sjón, perhaps best known for his work with Bjork, brought his work. “People cry. I cry every year,” Hovind says.
Learn more about Future Library.
[Photo: Kristin von Hirsch]
[Photo: Kristin von Hirsch]
