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Laura Salverson, née Goodman, novelist (born 9 December 1890 in Winnipeg, MB; died 13 July 1970 in Toronto, ON). Salverson was an award-winning author who received the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction (The Dark Weaver, 1937) and Non-Fiction (Confessions of an Immigrant’s Daughter, 1939).
Daughter of Icelandic immigrants, Laura Goodman Salverson was born in Winnipeg and lived throughout western Canada after her marriage to George Salverson in 1913.
Nurtured on Icelandic sagas and legends, she celebrated the cultural heritage of Scandinavian settlers, most memorably in her first and best novel, The Viking Heart (1923), but also in When Sparrows Fall (1925), Johann Lind (1928) and The Dark Weaver (1937, Governor General's Award).
Salverson also wrote a volume of verse, Wayside Gleams (1924-25), two minor romances, The Dove (1933) and Black Lace (1938), and two historical novels about Norse explorers, Lord of the Silver Dragon (1927) and Immortal Rock (1954, All-Canada Fiction Award).
Salverson won her second Governor General's Award for her autobiography, Confessions of an Immigrant's Daughter (1939), a sensitive record of conflict and assimilation. Salverson was a member of the Paris Institute of Arts and Sciences, which awarded her a gold medal for literary merit.
