was born in 1982. From 1983, he wanted to become a sports journalist, which is why he allowed himself the luxury of studying philosophy. Not content with simply founding the independent football magazine “Kopalnia – szuka futbolu”, he also writes for, edits and publishes his creation.
Jorge Luis Borges: “When writers die they become books, which is, after all, not too bad an incarnation.”
She was walking down the forest path with a roll of white cloth in her hands. It was trailing behind her like a long veil. It was sweeping needles, leaves and soil lumps, drawing a pattern on the sandy pathway. The whiteness of the cloth contrasted with her black attire and the dark, thick forest. As the path went up and down, the crowd following the woman at a distance would lose sight of her, only to see her again in a short while, like a white signpost.
Once the procession reached the clearing surrounded by old trees, the woman in black kneeled down in the centre. She began to wrap something with the cloth, already quite tatty after the walk. Her face was tense and her hands were shaking as she tried to tie up the bundle with a string. Eventually, she brought her emotions under control, tightened the knot, and held the bundle to her breast. The onlookers formed a circle around her, maintaining, however, a respectful distance. They didn’t want to disturb this intimate moment: a moment of farewell.
The people who gathered there to view the ceremony sat on the moss and dewy grass. They walked carefully, making sure not to trample on dozen-centimeter-tall spruce trees with red ribbons tied around their tops. One could already see this year’s bright green growths on the saplings.
Future Library. Photo courtesy of Katie Paterson StudioFuture Library. Photo courtesy of Katie Paterson Studio
The woman in black was forty-nine-year-old South Korean writer Han Kang, who won the 2016 Man Booker International Prize. The object she wrapped with the white cloth was a manuscript. When the spruce saplings with red ribbons grow, they will become her book. It won’t happen, however, until the year 2114. Until then, for nearly one hundred years, Kang’s manuscript, in a tatty cloth, will remain hidden from public view. Neither the writer nor her eighteen-year-old son will live to see its publication. The onlookers who gathered that day in the Nordmarka Forest in the hills outside of Oslo won’t bear witness to it either. Future Library is being created for the generations to come, in the hope
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a fashion, design and young contemporary art lover.
Piotr Żelazny:
was born in 1982. From 1983, he wanted to become a sports journalist, which is why he allowed himself the luxury of studying philosophy. Not content with simply founding the independent football magazine “Kopalnia – szuka futbolu”, he also writes for, edits and publishes his creation.
A journalist from Radio RAM. Author of the book 'Lecę. Piloci mi to powiedzieli' ('I'm Flying. Pilots Told Me That'). A graduate of the Polish School of Reportage. Associated with 'Przekrój' magazine since forever. In childhood, he flipped through all the editions at his grandparents'. In adulthood, he became addicted to the crossword puzzles of the Kaliber 45 collective and the drawings of Raczkowski.
A bench in a park by the Oder river on a sunny afternoon. A lovely backdrop for my conversation with Ilona Wiśniewska about surviving the winter longing for the sun. I want to learn all the tricks this reporter and photographer is hiding up her sleeve. After all, she wrote so beautifully about her experiences with polar nights in her debut book, Białe [White]. Jan Pelczar: What can one do to prepare for the lack of sun?
Ilona Wiśniewska: In Spitsbergen, there is no sun for four months a year, so the most important thing is to enter the darkness gradually. Attitude is equally important. The point is not to view darkness as something unambiguously negative. Once you live there, you realize there is actually a lot of light to be found in a sunless landscape.
