The writer and editor Stephen Osborne discusses his new collection of essays The Coincidence Problem: Selected Dispatches 1999-2022 (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024), with Joseph Planta.

The Coincidence Problem: Selected Dispatches 1999-2022 by Stephen Osborne (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2024). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Coincidence Problem

Text of the introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, British Columbia, at TheCommentary.ca.

One of the great collections this year has been the latest from Stephen Osborne, The Coincidence Problem: Selected Dispatches 1999-2022. In the book he’s collected a variety of essays and pieces from the last quarter century that reflect what’s been on his mind. He’s by no means an expert on coincidence, but throughout the collection are essays that look at how coincidence touches on a variety of issues: world politics, the changing city, and family history, among many others. There are forays into history like the lynching of Indigenous youth Louie Sam, as well as the death of C.F. Keiss, who was struck down and killed by the first ambulance in the City of Vancouver in 1909. We get marvelous insight into what interests Mr. Osborne, who joins me now, and how his interesting and interested mind works. We’ll talk about photographs, memory, and the collective memory of a city, and the future of where we live. The founder of Arsenal Pulp Press, who publishes this new collection, and co-founder of Geist magazine, Stephen Osborne is an award-winning writer. Among his many awards include: the CBC Literary Award, the Vancouver Arts Award for Writing and Publishing, the National Magazine Foundation Special Achievement Award, and the Event Creative Non-fiction Prize. We spoke earlier this week. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program Stephen Osborne; Mr. Osborne, good morning.

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