Laura Goodman Salverson (December 9, 1890 – July 13, 1970) was a Canadian author.Laura Salverson
in

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...

. Her work reflected her Icelandic heritage. Two of her books won Governor General's awards for literature.

Early life

Salverson was born Laura Goodman in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

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, the daughter of Lárus Guðmundsson and Ingibjörg Guðmundsdóttir who immigrated to Winnipeg in 1887 from Grundir in

Bolungarvík Bolungarvík (, regionally also ) is a small town and the only built-up area in the municipality of Bolungarvíkurkaupstaður in the northwest of Iceland, located on the Westfjords peninsula, approximately from the town of Ísafjörður and from ...

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. She married George Salverson in 1913.

Career

While a young housewife and mother, Salverson began writing poetry. Several of her poems were published by local newspapers. In 1923 Salverson published her first novel. ''The Viking Heart''. She went on to write several novels based on Icelandic sagas and themes. Many of the characters in her stories were Scandinavian and German. Salverson wrote about her experiences with poverty and racial prejudice. Her writings reflected her belief that Icelandic immigrants to Canada should maintain and support their Icelandic culture. In 1939 she wrote an autobiography.

Works

* ''The Viking Heart'' (1923) * ''When Sparrows Fall'' (1925) * ''Wayside Gleams'' (1925) * ''Lord of the Silver Dragons'' (1927) * ''The Dove'' (1933) * ''The Dark Weaver: Against the Sombre Background of the Old Generations Flame the Scarlet Banners of the New'' (1937), winner of a 1937 Governor General's Award * ''Black Lace'' (1938) * ''Confessions of an Immigrant's Daughter'' (1939), winner of a 1939 Governor General's Award * ''Immortal Rock: The Saga of the Kensington Stone'' (1954), winner of the 1954 Ryerson Fiction Award

References

External links

* *
Laura Goodman Salverson fonds, LMS-0016
are held at Library and Archives Canada. There are other complementary material i
Laura Goodman Salverson fonds (R5600)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salverson, Laura 1890 births 1970 deaths 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian women writers Canadian women non-fiction writers Canadian women novelists Governor General's Award-winning fiction writers Governor General's Award-winning non-fiction writers Writers from Winnipeg