Ulrika Gustafsson

In 1936 the Finland-Swedish writer Sally Salminen won a literary prize for her first novel 'Katrina' which saw her life change. That someone like her,…

Sally Salminen's famous novel 'Katrina' was published in 1936 and changed her life. From then on, she could afford not to work as a maid and became a writer of both fiction and non-fiction. Her works wrangle with themes such as war and motherhood and deal with issues inspired by her own life which still resonate today.

Sally Salminen won a Finnish-Swedish literary prize for her novel 'Katrina' in the autumn of 1936 at a time when she was working as a maid in New York; it was the Great Depression and she had emigrated there six years earlier to work in wealthy households. It was a global sensation that someone like her, unknown and from the working class, could write such a good book. She was seen as a living example of the American dream and, all at once, she was able to return to the Nordics and put everything into her childhood dream: being an author. A further 16 books followed: novels, memoirs and travel stories which revolved around self-worth and social responsibility, captivity and freedom – and her debut novel has since proven to be a classic.