Future Library

Welcome to the Future Library Handover 2026! We are excited to share the program, which this year also includes events in the days leading up to and following the official Handover Ceremony. These events are free with no registration necessary (with the exception of Monday's symposium, for which there is registration and a small lunch fee). Thursday, 25th June, 18.00: Book launch of Ghost-Eye by Amitav Ghosh, the 12th author — his newest novel. Hosted by and at Melahuset, with books for sale by Prismatic Pages. Saturday, 27th June, 21.00: An evening in the forest with Nordic Black Xpress, performing an adaptation of Amitav Ghosh's Jungle Nama. Sunday, 28th June, 10.00: Handover Ceremony in the Future Library Forest, when Amitav Ghosh and Tommy Orange will present their manuscripts. Sunday, 28th June, 14.30: Placing of manuscripts in the Silent Room, followed by conversations with both authors, together with Professor Helge Jordheim and author Katrine Nedrejord. Monday, 29th June 10.00-16.00 at Nordic Black Theatre: What Can Art Do for the Future? Join the association of Long-term Art Projects, including the Future Library, for a symposium that unites creatives, thinkers, policymakers, and the public to explore how art is essential to imagining possible futures and catalyzing governance for intergenerational fairness. Registration and lunch fee details forthcoming.

The 12th Future Library author is revealed: Amitav Ghosh Artist Katie Paterson and the Future Library Trust are delighted to announce Amitav Ghosh as the twelfth author to contribute to the century-long artwork. The Future Library Trust selected Ghosh for his deeply resonant literary voice and his longstanding engagement with themes of ecology, history, and time. On joining Future Library, Amitav Ghosh says: "To be invited to participate in the Future Library project is both a profound honor and a humbling act of trust. The Future Library compels us to think beyond our lifetimes, to imagine readers who have not yet been born. It is particularly significant for me that the project has a forest at its core, because for a long time now, I have been writing about a forest, albeit of an entirely different kind: the great mangrove forest known as the Sundarban. It will be an exciting challenge to make a connection between the forests of the far north and those of the tropics, at this time of extreme planetary crisis. I am moved to be part of a work that intertwines ecology, literature, and patience on such a monumental scale." Amitav Ghosh grew up in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and has a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford. He is the author of four books of non-fiction, two collections of essays and nine novels. His books have won many prizes and he holds six honorary doctorates. His work has been translated into more than thirty languages and he has served on the Jury of the Locarno and Venice film festivals. In 2018 he became the first English-language writer to receive India’s highest literary honor, the Jnanpith Award. Ghosh will hand over his manuscript in 2026, date to be announced. Photo: Mathieu Génon

Tommy Orange revealed as the 11th Author Tommy Orange, is the New York Times bestselling author of There There, a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize and winner of the 2019 American Book Award. His newest novel, Wandering Stars, was longlisted for this years Booker Prize. He was born and raised in Oakland California, and is an enrolled member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma. His work is a poignant exploration of identity and heritage Tommy Orange’s writing is marked by a deep exploration of identity, belonging, and intergenerational trauma, particularly within the context of Indigenous experiences. His work is both a critique of historical and ongoing injustices and a celebration of the enduring strength and resilience of Native American communities. Through powerful and emotional storytelling, he confronts stereotypes and provides complex perspectives, addressing themes of crisis and catharsis, resilience and survival. His writing is a driving force for transformation, destined to resonate with readers of the 22nd century. 📷 Michael Lionsgate

Torsdag 25. juni inviterer Melahuset til en litterær samtale med den indiske forfatteren Amitav Ghosh og hans nyeste bok Ghost-Eye, en magisk realistisk roman om klimaendringer og reinkarnasjon. På Melahuset møter Ghosh forfatter Ari Gautier til en samtale om historiefortelling, migrasjon, kulturelle møtepunkter og litteraturens evne til å bygge broer mellom ulike stemmer. Torsdag 25. juni Dørene åpner kl. 17.30 Gratis inngang! Samtalen foregår på engelsk. Etter samtalen blir det boksignering med Amitav Ghosh. Bøker kan kjøpes av bokhandelen Prismatic Pages på Melahuset denne kvelden. Amitav Ghosh er i Norge i forbindelse med overrekkelsen av sitt bidrag til kunstverket Framtidsbiblioteket, som finner sted i skogen i Nordmarka søndag 28. juni. Les mer: www.futurelibrary.no og følg med på sosiale medier for mer informasjon om arrangementene.

Amitav Ghosh on Bloomberg's Weekend Interview -- listen at the link in bio.

29 April, the final stop of the Future Library tour in Shanghai was Fosun Art Center on the Bund. The rain did not relent and the temperature remained low, yet it did little to deter an enthusiastic audience from gathering for Anne Beate’s thought-provoking presentation on the top floor of the centre’s iconic building, designed by Norman Foster and Thomas Heatherwick. Following the presentation, Vice Consul Tom Jørgen opened the reception with a heartfelt speech, celebrating the successful tour of the Future Library project in China.

On Tuesday, 28 April, a heavy spring downpour drenched Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, and the temperature dropped to almost Norwegian levels. Despite the inclement weather, many prominent guests attended the tree-planting and adoption ceremony, which took place inside the garden’s vast greenhouse. Inspired by the Future Library project, a Norway maple was planted to celebrate—and bear witness to—the long-standing friendship between Norway and China. The Norwegian Consul General, Tobias Svenningsen, and the producer of the Future Library project Anne Beate Hovind were joined by the renowned Chinese writer Chen Danyan, along with Chinese officials, in the ceremony. The event was organised by Northing – Centre for East Asian Art and Culture, with support from the Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai and Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden.

"What difference do you hope this will make?" "The difference is in the process. I don’t think we’re doing this now and then something extraordinary will happen. Creating the future is by doing every day. I believe in the process. I believe in meeting you, people here in India and to discuss these things across ethnicities, religions, borders, that we could have a lot in common and that we can speak about this work in all kinds of ways. That’s why we need it now. It’s not that we need this work in 100 years." Read the full interview with Anne Beate in the Hindustan Times at the link in bio.

"You are involved in the Future Library project, where writers are invited to produce a book that will be published a century from now, timed for when a Norwegian forest matures. How has it changed your thoughts about writing? When you are writing something like that, the temptation is to try to be futuristic. [But] you very quickly realise the future is not going to be anything like you might imagine. Even science fiction written in the 1950s and 60s, [such as] JG Ballard’s The Drowned World, is completely rooted in its own time. It just tells you it’s a fool’s errand to imagine the future." Read more in The Observer at the link in bio.

Inside-Out Art Museum is the perfect venue for in-depth discussion on the future. Through the inspiring and heartfelt presentation by Anne Beate Hovind @abhovind on her career as a public art producer and curator, centred on the Future Farm and Future Library projects, perhaps we might glimpse a remedy for the societal anxiety stirred by the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence.

Future (in) Nature with @futurelibraryno and @abhovind is heading to Shanghai tomorrow. A Norway maple tree adoption event will be held at the World of Forest, Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden, on Tuesday, 28 April 2026, from 14:30 to 16:30. Inspired by the Norwegian literary and public art project Future Library—a 100-year project and an artistic journey in which literature and a living forest grow together—stories written today will be discovered by readers a century from now. The event brings together literature and ecology to reflect on the sustainability of human civilisation and our shared future. To mark this moment, a Norway maple (Acer platanoides) will be jointly planted and adopted as a living symbol of Norway-China friendship, continuity, and a shared commitment to the future. The event is initiated and organised by Northing Centre for East Asian Art and Culture @northingspace , with support from Shanghai Chenshan Botanical Garden and Royal Norwegian Consulate General in Shanghai @norwayinshanghai .

Last evening at the residence of the Norwegian Ambassador to China in Beijing, the producer and project manager of the remarkable Future Library, Anne Beate Hovind, and the founding director of Northing–Centre for East Asian Art and Culture, Ben Wenhou Yu, engaged in a thought-provoking conversation on Norwegian literature and interdisciplinary collaborations between literature and conceptual art. Ambassador Vebjørn Dysvik himself moderated the discussion with inspiring questions, witty remarks, and thoughtful contributions. At the close of the evening 🌙✨, hosts, guests, and audience alike 🤝💫 shared the hope of gathering again in 2114 🔮, when the Future Library fulfils its century-long mission 📚🌲💭