In 1990, writer Stephen Osborne and his partner, Mary Schendlinger, began publishing Geist, a literary quarterly based in Vancouver. From the beginning, the magazine established a reputation for observant photography, thoughtful essays, and off-the-wall humour, not least because of Osborne's regular contributions. The Coincidence Problem brings together Osborne's dispatches covering a wide range of subjects, from civic monuments to family history to global terrorism, the lynching of Indigenous youth Louie Sam, end times in the Arctic, and yes, even cats.

A modern flaneur, he investigates the city, translates the ordinary, and deflates the pretentious. The Coincidence Problem confirms Osborne's reputation as an incisive writer of narrative nonfiction that is at once personal and expansive. (From Arsenal Pulp Press)

Stephen Osborne is a writer and the founder of Arsenal Pulp Press. He is the author of Ice and Fire: Dispatches from the New World, 1988-1998. His previous work has received a CBC Nonfiction Award, the Vancouver Arts Award for Writing and Publishing and the National Magazine Foundation Special Achievement Award. Osborne lives in Vancouver.