Banér, Skulda V. (Skulda Vanadis)

Author of Ironwood, Michigan.

Skulda Vanadis Banér was a prolific writer of fiction, articles and poetry. A native of Ironwood, Michigan, she achieved popularity during the 1940s and 1950s by writing light fiction for both adults and children. She often transformed personal experience into short stories and descriptive articles.

Banér was born on November 23, 1897; her father, Swedish immigrant Johan G.R. Banér, was a publisher and writer. From childhood she aspired to be a writer like her father. After high school in Ironwood, she took correspondence courses from the University of Wisconsin, and studied art and piano in Milwaukee. In 1918, Banér became a prairie school teacher in North Dakota, but found the life difficult and returned to Michigan two years later. Decades later, her book First Parting gave a fictionalized account of those years.

During the 1920s and 1930s, Banér worked at a variety of office jobs, first at Lake Superior Power Company, followed by a Milwaukee radio station, the Carnation Milk Company, and the Boston Store. She gravitated towards advertising jobs, since she enjoyed writing copy.

In 1939, Banér took a long-awaited trip to Sweden. On her return to the United States, she was discovered to have glaucoma; by late 1940 her sight was completely gone. This proved to be a turning point in her life. In addition to the tremendous adjustment of learning to live with blindness, Banér's business career ended and she devoted herself full-time to writing. The bulk of her publications appeared in print after 1940. Her work was published in Ladies Home Journal, American Swedish Monthly, American Girl and other magazines. Her most popular books, including the autobiographical Latchstring Out and the children's book Pims, were published between 1944 and 1960. Many of her stories were also reprinted in anthologies.

Banér spent the last years of her life in Los Angeles with her sister and brother-in-law, Nanna and Burke Taylor. She died on January 31, 1964.