100 books to read in 2114

I learnt about this inspiring project through Patrick Baud, creator of ‘Continue tu m’intéresses’, whose videos explore the world’s curiosities with genuine enthusiasm. He introduced me to a unique library: in May 2014, the Scottish artist Katie Paterson planted 1,000 trees in the Nordmarka forest, near Oslo. Trees that will be felled a hundred years later, in 2114, to provide the paper for one hundred previously unpublished texts.

The library for readers not yet born is being built year after year. Until 2114, one author a year is invited to hand over a manuscript, kept in a specially designed room at Oslo’s public library, the ‘Silent Room’. The catch: the book can be neither read nor published before the deadline.

Many of today’s most widely read authors have already taken part by submitting their texts: Margaret Atwood, David Mitchell, Sjón, Elif Shafak, Han Kang, Karl Ove Knausgård, Ocean Vuong, Tsitsi Dangarembga, Judith Schalansky, Valeria Luiselli and Tommy Orange.

‘It’s the opposite of instant gratification. It’s an act of deep patience, and patience is a form of faith, a love for something greater than yourself,’ says Ocean Vuong of the project, written for readers who will not read it in his lifetime.

What sets this library apart is its relationship with time: in our on-demand society, where we consume a video, a soup, an opinion or a break-up with the same haste, corporate strategies struggle to look beyond the next quarter.

Against this backdrop, the artist Katie Paterson invites us to plant trees and preserve books to be read a century from now. A timescale so long that we will never see the result, much like the building of cathedrals in their day.