The next book by Native American author Tommy Orange will not be read for 90 years.
The author of There There and Wandering Stars has been selected as the 11th writer to contribute to the Future Library project, which each year invites an author to produce a manuscript to be stored under lock and key until 2114.
The project, which began in 2014, will culminate in an anthology of a century’s worth of secret works, printed on paper from trees planted by the artist behind the project, Katie Paterson.
Orange was announced as the latest contributor during an event at Edinburgh international book festival. His writing “is marked by a deep exploration of identity, belonging, and intergenerational trauma, particularly within the context of Indigenous experiences,” said Paterson. Orange’s work is “destined to resonate with readers of the 22nd century”.
Born and raised in Oakland, California, Orange is a member of the Cheyenne and Arapaho tribes of Oklahoma. His debut, There There, was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer prize, and his second book, Wandering Stars, was longlisted for the Booker prize last month.
“I had not heard of this project before, but when I saw the list of the names of the other authors from previous years I was floored to be in the ranks of such people,” said Orange. Past contributors include Tsitsi Dangarembga, Ocean Vuong, Karl Ove Knausgård and Elif Shafak. “I said yes initially because I was recommended by Margaret Atwood,” Orange added. Atwood was the inaugural contributor to the project.
Being involved in the Future Library “means I still have hope that we will have a world to live in with books in it in a hundred years, or 90 I guess, and I think I need to keep that hope alive, need to actively cultivate that kind of hope in the longevity of the human project”, said Orange.
In May 2014, Paterson planted 1,000 Norwegian spruce trees in Nordmarka, a forested area in the north of Oslo, which will supply paper for the 2114 anthology.
Orange said that writing “toward a future that far ahead” will be “much different” to writing his other works. “Everything is different about that kind of reader, almost every context will be different, but stories are always stories and if I tell a good one I think it will probably connect with any kind of reader”.
The manuscripts are stored in Oslo’s Deichman Bjørvika library, in the specially designed Silent Room, lined with wood and featuring 100 handmade cast glass drawers, each etched with an author’s name and the year their text was written.
“I woke up the day after finding out about being asked to do this with a line in my head: I was born in the future,” said Orange. “The line itself doesn’t mean anything on its own but I thought: Could this be the beginning of what I write for this project? I think it’s a little scary writing for people who will most definitely deem us stupid and inferior in many ways just as when we look back a hundred years we can see clearly all the problems we had just being decent human beings.”
The Future Library welcomes works of any genre or language, and the length of the piece is decided by the author. Each spring, authors hand over their work in a ceremony in Nordmarka.
David Mitchell, Sjón, Han Kang and Judith Schalansky have also participated. Last year, Valeria Luiselli was the chosen author.
