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- Dahlie, Hallvard. "Laura Salverson".The Canadian Encyclopedia, 16 December 2013,Historica Canada. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/laura-salverson. Accessed 17 July 2025.
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- Dahlie, H. (2013). Laura Salverson. InThe Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/laura-salverson
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- Dahlie, Hallvard. "Laura Salverson."The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published April 10, 2008; Last Edited December 16, 2013.
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- The Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Laura Salverson," by Hallvard Dahlie, Accessed July 17, 2025, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/laura-salverson
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Laura Salverson
Article byHallvard Dahlie
Published Online April 10, 2008
Last Edited December 16, 2013
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 inWhen Sparrows Fall (1925),Johann Lind (1928) andThe Dark Weaver (1937, Governor General's Award).
Salverson also wrote a volume of verse,Wayside Gleams (1924-25), 2 minor romances,The Dove (1933) andBlack Lace (1938), and 2 historical novels about Norse explorers,Lord of the Silver Dragon (1927) andImmortal 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.