Arved Viirlaid is an Estonian-Canadian writer.

Arved Viirlaid fought in the Estonian regiment

Finnish Infantry Regiment 200

Infantry Regiment 200 or Soomepoisid was a unit in the Finnish army during World War II made up mostly of Estonian volunteers, who preferred to fight against the Soviet Union in the ranks of the Finnish army instead of the armed forces of Germany....

 in Finland during the Second World War, returning to Estonia in 1944.
He escaped from Soviet-occupied Estonia, settling first in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

, and then moving to Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 in 1953.

Viirlaid has published 9 novels and several collections of poetry. His first novel, Tormiaasta
(The Year of Storms) was published in 1949.
In 1952, he published Ristideta hauad (Graves Without
Crosses), which has been translated from Estonian into seven other languages.

The English translation appeared in 1972, with
a preface by John Diefenbaker

John Diefenbaker

John George Diefenbaker, PC, CH, QC was the 13th Prime Minister of Canada, serving from June 21, 1957, to April 22, 1963...

.
His 1965 novel, Sadu jõkke (Rain for the River) has also been translated into English.

He was awarded the Order of the National Coat of Arms

Order of the National Coat of Arms

The Order of the National Coat of Arms was instituted by Konstantin Päts on 7 October 1936 to commemorate 24 February 1918, the day on which Estonian independence was declared...

, 3rd Class, by the President of Estonia in 1997. The writer renounced the decoration.