author
Olive Schreiner
1855–1920
A pioneering South African novelist and essayist, she brought international attention to life in southern Africa with The Story of an African Farm. Her writing joined literary power with fearless arguments about women’s freedom, justice, and war.
8 Audiobooks
The Story of an African Farm
by Olive Schreiner
Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland
by Olive Schreiner
Dreams
by Olive Schreiner
Woman and Labour
by Olive Schreiner
Dream Life and Real Life: A Little African Story
by Olive Schreiner
Ratsumies Peter Halket Mashonamaasta
by Olive Schreiner
Thoughts on South Africa
by Olive Schreiner
The South African Question
by Olive Schreiner
About the author
Born on March 24, 1855, in the Eastern Cape region of South Africa, Olive Schreiner grew up in a missionary family and was largely self-educated. She worked as a governess before turning seriously to writing, drawing on her own experiences of the South African landscape and colonial society.
She is best known for The Story of an African Farm, published in 1883, a novel that earned wide acclaim and is often described as the first major South African novel in English. Schreiner also wrote influential essays and political works, and she became known as a strong voice for women’s rights, social reform, and opposition to war and imperialism.
Schreiner died on December 11, 1920, but her work still stands out for its independence of mind and moral force. Readers continue to return to her for both the vividness of her fiction and the courage of her public ideas.