Kirsten A. Seaver (born 1934) is a Norwegian-American historian and author known for her writing about the exploration of North America. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and previously taught at Stanford University.[1]
Life and works
In the United States, Seaver worked for Harvard University as secretary at the university library and consultant on their Scandinavian collections, from 1956 to 1960. She later taught Norwegian at Stanford, from 1975 to 1982. In 1994 she joined the Meta Incognita Project,[2] studying Martin Frobisher's Arctic expeditions and attempt to start a colony in Canada.[3]
Seaver is best known for her 2004 book on the history of the Vínland Map, a map whose authenticity has been debated since its first appearance in 1957 and is now considered a forgery.[4] She has also published novels in German and Norwegian.
Publications
- The Last Vikings: The Epic Story of the Great Norse Voyagers (2021) ISBN 1350143367
- Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map (2004) ISBN 0804749639
- In Quisling's Shadow: The Memoirs of Vidkun Quisling's First Wife, Alexandra (1999) ISBN 0817948325
- The Frozen Echo: Greenland and the Exploration of North America, ca. A.D. 1000-1500 (1996) ISBN 0804731616
Novels
- Mørke skyer over Solhellinga (2007)
- Das Kuckucks Kind (2002)
- Øst i havet ligger Vesterøy (1998)
- Landet som falt av jorden (1996)
- Gudrids saga (1994)
Selected research
- Norumbega and Harmonia Mundi in sixteenth-century cartography (1998)[5]