Olive Schreiner coincidences

Coincidences are coincidences and nothing mystical/magical lies behind them, but sometimes they are so coincidental that it seems odd. Four Olive Schreiner coincidences of this kind have just occurred. On Friday an invitation arrived to speak at the Karoo Writers Festival centenary conference celebrating the life and work of Olive Schreiner in June 2020. Then after finishing revisions to a joint article on the Forbes 1871 diary and letters, commented on in an earlier blog, on Monday revisions to a Schreiner article on pacifism were started. Then on Tuesday an email arrived to the effect that a previously unknown studio portrait photograph of Schreiner has most likely been found. And then on Wednesday an exchange of emails occurred with someone whose research concerns the anarchist Charlotte Wilson, a friend of Schreiner‘s young womanhood in London, pointing out that some of the references in letters assigned to Mrs Wilson of Hannover are in fact to Charlotte Wilson. I confidently expect another Schreiner coincidence to occur today, Thursday. And of course Olive Schreiner herself will most likely appear on Friday!

Last updated: 3 October 2019