Name W. Valgardson Role Fiction writer | Education University of Iowa | |
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Books Sarah and the People of Sand R, Garbage Creek, The Divorced Kids Club, What can't be changed, Winter rescue | ||
William Dempsey Valgardson (born 7 May 1939) is an Icelandic Canadian fiction writer and poet. He was a long-time professor of writing at the University of Victoria in British Columbia and a professor of English at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri.
Valgardson was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, of Icelandic descent, and raised in Gimli, Manitoba, he completed his BA at United College, BEd at the University of Manitoba, and his MFA at the University of Iowa.
His writing often focuses on cultural differences and involve irony and symbolism. His short stories involve normal people in normal situations, who, under certain circumstances, lead unusual and surprising lives.
Valgardson has won numerous awards and accolades including the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize for The Girl With the Botticelli Face (1992) and the Books in Canada First Novel Award for Gentle Sinners (1980). His short story Bloodflowers was included in Best American Short Stories 1971.