Article

Laura Salverson

Published Online April 10, 2008

Last Edited December 16, 2013

Laura Salverson, née Goodman, novelist (b at Winnipeg 9 Dec 1890; d at Toronto 13 July 1970). Daughter of Icelandic immigrants, she lived throughout western Canada after her marriage to George Salverson in 1913.

Salverson, Laura

Laura Salverson, née Goodman, novelist (b at Winnipeg 9 Dec 1890; d at Toronto 13 July 1970). Daughter of Icelandic immigrants, she 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), 2 minor romances, The Dove (1933) and Black Lace (1938), and 2 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.