MARGARET ATWOOD

DAVID MITCHELLSJÓNELIF SHAFAKHAN KANG KARL OVE KNAUSGÅRDOCEAN VUONGTSITSI DANGAREMBGAJUDITH SCHALANSKYVALERIA LUISELLITOMMY ORANGE

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Present Library is a quiet archive of now initiated in April 2025, drawn from the voices of the Future Library

Present Library is inspired by Katie Paterson’s Future Library, the century-long artwork unfolding in Oslo from 2014 to 2114. Since 2014, every year the Future Library selects an author to write a text that will remain undisclosed until 2114. Present Library aims to hone an active vigil until 2114, whereby it contributes to the assurance that people are still literate and interested in reading. It also aims to provide an opportunity for people to meditate and reconsider the concept of waiting—using this time as a chance to delve into these authors' minds, stirring one’s own imagination in a process that is akin to being offered a rare taste of the still-unrevealed texts that will one day emerge from the forest soil of Nordmarka.

Now (issa), Present Library quietly germinates in Gozo as part of an art collection and an artist retreat. Initially, Present Library will work closely with local authors and readers, sharing with them its sourced books from the Future Library authors, the oldest text so far being Double Persephone by Margaret Atwood published in 1961 . These exchanges will inspire its subsequent curatorial and outreach programs. Present Library does not see itself as the possessor of its own initiative, yet in holding a certificate from the Future Library which will entitle it to a copy of the undisclosed text in 2114 feels compelled to inspire this vigil until then.