W. D. Valgardson
Canadian fiction writer, poet, and English studies academic
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.
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, while "Trees" is listed in the 1977 issue of Best Canadian Stories.
Biography
Valgardson was born 7 May 1939 in Winnipeg, Manitoba to parents Dempsey Alfred Herbert, a fisherman of Icelandic descent, and Rachel Iris Valgardson. He was raised in Gimli, Manitoba, a community with a large Icelandic population. This upbringing greatly impacted his personal life perspective, as well as his future writing.
He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Manitoba in 1960, followed by a Bachelor of Education in 1966.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2536682. VIAF identifies the subject as 92792775. The Library of Congress control number is n50046670. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1939, 1992, 1980 and 1971.
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This entry incorporates text from “W. D. Valgardson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.