Sjón: why Olso’s Future Library is a fairytale come true

The Icelandic poet follows Margaret Atwood and David Mitchell as the latest contributor to the Future Library anthology. He describes the magic behind the project

My favourite Icelandic folk story has to do with the future. In it we learn about an old couple living in poverty on a desolate farm in a dark and narrow valley somewhere beyond the bluest mountains. The storyteller makes much of their poor circumstances and their old age. They were so frail they could barely move. The man was about 80 years old, she was over 90. Their farmhouse was sinking into the earth.

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