Virginia Sorensen

Women of Letters » Literature

Mormon novelist associated with the ‘Lost Generation’ group of Mormon writers. Born in Provo and educated at Brigham Young University, Sorensen later moved from Utah and spent most of her adult life abroad. A prolific writer, Sorensen often focused her novels on the conflicts between independent-minded individuals and Mormon small-town society. Sorensen was twice awarded Guggenheim fellowships, and her children’s novel Miracles on Maple Hill (1957) won the John Newbery Medal of the American Library Association.