Unless technology advances in a major way, you’ll never be able to read Margaret Atwood’s latest manuscript.
That’s because your time on the planet will have long passed.
A new project is aiming to keep unread manuscripts by some of the world’s most celebrated authors under wraps for the next 100 years.
Our very own legend of Canadian literature, the Toronto-based Margaret Atwood, is the first author to submit a piece for the Future Library in Oslo, Norway.
As part of the impressive, international project, one writer contributes a new, unread manuscript to the collection for the next 100 years. In 2114 (and yes, it feels weird to type that number), 1,000 trees planted for the project will be cut down to provide paper for the publication of the texts, which will be printed as an anthology of books.
By that time, getting your hands on a good, old-fashioned paper-made book could be a huge novelty in itself.
As for Atwood, she says she’s honoured to support the project, and happy that it believes the human race will still exist a hundred years from now.
Until then, the manuscripts will be stored in a specially designed room in the new Deichman Library in Oslo, which is set to open in 2018. Designed to be a place of contemplation, the room will be lined with wood from the forest.
Though the names and titles of the authors’ works will be on display, you’ll have to leave reading the texts to your future grandchildren.