Future Library by Margaret Atwood

"As a child, I was one of those who buried treasures in jars, with the idea that someone, some day, might come along and dig them up. I found similar things while digging in the various gardens I have made: old nails, old medicine bottles, fragments of china plates... That is what the Future Library is like, in part: it will contain fragments of lives that were once lived, and that are now the past. But all writing is a method of preserving and transmitting the human voice."

There’s a secret book that no one will read for 100 years.
It is a book from the future, so it hasn’t been published yet.
It is kept in a locked room, in a Norwegian library.
There is a sacred grove that will provide the paper for its pages.
And there are 100 authors who will write its secret stories.
100 years. 100 stories. 100 different writers.

This is the Future Library (Framtidsbiblioteket). It is being created by Scottish artist Katie Paterson for the city of Oslo in Norway.

When Katie had to choose the first writer to contribute the first story, she named Margaret Atwood, prizewinning author, poet, essayist, literary critic, and Wattpad’s official Fairy Godmother.

Read Margaret's thoughts about her involvement in the project here.

*Watch Margaret on Periscope on May 26th 2015 to witness the live event, and stay tuned for a special Wattpad writing contest coming soon!*