William Dempsey Valgardson (born 7 May 1939) is an Icelandic-Canadian fiction writer and poet.
[1] His writing often focuses on cultural differences and involve irony and symbolism.
[citation needed] 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).
[3] He was raised in Gimli, Manitoba, a community with a large Icelandic population.
[1][3] This upbringing greatly impacted his personal life perspective, as well as his future writing.