Sally Salminen

Sally Salminen
Salminen in 1941
Born	(1906-04-25)25 April 1906 Vårdö, Finland
Died	18 July 1976(1976-07-18) (aged 70) Copenhagen, Denmark
Resting place	Cemetery of Holmen
Occupation	writer
Language	Swedish
Nationality	Finnish
Years active	1936–1974
Notable works	Katrina
Spouse	Johannes Dührkop

Sally Alina Ingeborg Salminen (25 April 1906 – 18 July 1976), from 1940 Salminen-Dührkop, was an internationally renowned author from Vargata, the Åland Islands, Finland. She was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature three times.

Biography

Born in Vårdö, Åland, Sally Salminen was the eighth child of twelve. Already as a child she entertained notions of becoming an author, but she considered herself to be too poor and unknowledgeable to succeed as a writer. After her confirmation, she worked in the village grocery store, until she moved to Stockholm, Sweden to work as a maid. During her tenure in Sweden she took correspondent courses and read books in her spare time.

In 1930 Sally and her sister Aili moved to New York City, United States. While in New York, she wrote during her spare time, and it was here she started writing the manuscript for her first (and most famous) novel, Katrina. Finland-Swedish publisher Holger Schildts Förlag announced in 1936 a writing contest, for which Salminen submitted her manuscript. Her submission won, and Katrina was published the same year. The novel depicts the life of an Ostrobothnian woman, Katrina, who moves to Åland following her marriage. Katrina became an international success, eventually being translated into more than twenty languages.

Sally Salminen married Danish painter Johannes Dürhkop in 1940, and relocated to Denmark. Salminen remained a prolific writer, but she was never able to replicate the success of her debut novel, Katrina. Besides Katrina, Prins Efflam (1953) and Vid Havet (1963) are considered her most notable works.

Family

Several of Salminen's siblings were notable authors in their own right. Her sister Aili Nordgren (née Salminen) (1908–1995) wrote several books. Her younger brother Runar Salminen (1912–1988) released several anthologies of poetry, and elder brother Uno Salminen (1905–1991) wrote a trilogy of books about the fictional character Erik Sundblom.

Additionally, Aili Nordgren's son Ralf Nordgren (born 1936) and Uno Salminen's daughter Christina Remmer (born 1941) have authored several books. Another notable author born on Åland, Johannes Salminen, is however not related to Sally Salminen.

Bibliography

Novels

• Katrina (1936)
• Den långa våren (1939)
• På lös sand (1941)
• Lars Laurila (1943)
• Nya land (1945)
• Barndomens land (1948)
• Små världar (1949)
• Klyftan och stjärnan (1951)
• Prins Efflam (1953)
• Spår på jorden (1961)
• Vid havet (1963)

Factual

• Jerusalem (1970)
• På färder i Israel (1971)

Autobiographical

• Upptäcktsresan (1966)
• Min amerikanska saga (1968)
• I Danmark (1972)
• Världen öppnar sig (1974)

External links

• Biography of Sally Salminen, Library of Mariehamn, Åland
• Sällskapet Salminens Vänner r.f., now defunct organisation (in Swedish)
• Salminen, Sally at Uppslagsverket Finland (in Swedish)
• Salminen, Sally at Biografiskt lexikon för Finland (in Swedish)
• Short biographies of Ralf Nordgren, Aili Nordgren, Runar Salminen and Sally Salminen (in Finnish)