News

2023-05/04
And the Winner is...

Congratulations to the winner of the first Carol Shields Prize for Fiction! We applaud Fatimah Asghar for her book When We Were Sisters.

In fact we applaud all the short list, long list, participants and judges in the difficult decision of choosing from so many wonderful books.

For more information and to watch the 2023 award ceremony, click here.

 

2023-04/21
Announcing the 2023 Shortlist

The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction has announced the shortlisted writers for the 2023 Prize, one of whom will be awarded the $150,000 USD grand prize, presented by BMO. See the shortlist and read about the books here.

Watch the announcement of the winner on May 4th. Click here for details.

 

2023-03/08
Announcing the 2023 Longlist

The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction’s inaugural longlist includes 15 writers from across Canada and the U.S., one of whom will win the $150,000 USD grand prize, presented by BMO. Details here.



2022-10/04
Carol Shields Inducted to the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame

The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame inducts Carol Shields, Ray Bradbury and Ethyl Payne in a ceremony on November 3, 2022. To get free tickets to the induction ceremony or to learn more, visit the Chicago Literary Hall of Fame.

 

2022-05/31
Big news from The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

The prize is now open for submissions and a jury has been selected! The call for submissions kicked off earlier this year, accepting works of fiction from women and non-binary writers scheduled to be published in 2022. The full list of rules and regulations can be found here.

The longlist of 15 books will be announced on March 8, 2023 (International Women’s Day), and the shortlist of 5 books will be announced on April 6, 2023. The Prize will be awarded for the first time on May 4, 2023.

For further information click on the links below.

Click here to visit the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction website for further information.
Click here to sign up to receive the newsletter.
Click here to donate to the project.

 

2021-01/14
Melinda Gates Is Donating $250,000 to Fund The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction

In an exclusive interview with OprahMag.com, Gates opens up about the impact she hopes the Carol Shields Prize has for women in fiction.

Click here to visit the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction website for further information.
Click here to sign up to receive the newsletter.
Click here to donate to the project.

 

2020-12/04
Reissue of The Stone Diaries in UK

World Editions will be reissuing The Stone Diaries in the UK with a new cover December 2020. Click here to see their video of dates and covers about all their reissues of Carol Shields novels.

 

2020-08/09
CBC rebroadcasts Writers & Company Interview with Carol Shields

Eleanor Wachtel interviewed Carol about Larry's Party on Writers and Company in 1997. This interview was rebroadcast by CBC in August 2020, as part of a series celebrating the 25th anniversary of the U.K. Women's Prize for Fiction.

 

2020-05/26
A wonderful story that involves Carol Shields

Lorna Crozier spoke at the the Springsong 2020 Virtual Gala to raise money for Pelee Island Heritage Centre and the Pelee Island Bird Observatory on Saturday May 9, 2020. We thank Lorna and Pelee Island Heritage for giving us permission to use the talk on our website. Click here to see the talk and find the links for Lorna Crozier and Pelee Island.

 

2020-04/06
Carol Shields Prize for Fiction announces a newsletter

Despite this time of of great anxiety and insecurity, we continue to work on this important prize. This newsletter will provide everyone with updates on our progress. In addition to news, this newsletter will also profile a recent book release by a Canadian or US woman author.

Click here to visit the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction website for further information.
Click here to sign up to receive the newsletter.
Click here to donate to the project.

 

2020-02/07
New Carol Shields prize for fiction will award $150,000 to female author

See article in Globe and Mail Books.

 

2019-11/15
Unless on BBC list of 100 Novels that Shaped Our World

From CBC Books, Posted Nov 08, 2019:

Margaret Atwood, L.M. Montgomery, Carol Shields featured on BBC's list of 100 novels that shaped the world

Margaret Atwood (left — pictured with her Companion of Honour on Oct. 25, 2019), Lucy Maud Montgomery (centre — undated photo) and Carol Shields (right — pictured with her Companion of the Order of Canada Award in 2002) are among the Canadians recognized on the BBC's list of 100 influential books.
(Aaron Chown/Getty Images, Canadian Press, Richard Lam/Canadian Press)


The BBC tasked a panel of six writers, curators and critics with selecting 100 of the most influential English-language novels published in the past 300 years.

After months of discussion, panellists Stig Abell, Mariella Frostrup, Juno Dawson, Kit de Waal, Alexander McCall Smith and Syima Aslam have released their list on BBC Arts.

Divided into 10 categories such as "identity," "love sex & romance," "coming of age" and "rule breakers," the list covers a range of classic and contemporary literature, including major fantasy and children's series.

Five Canadian books are on the list: Fugitive Pieces by Anne Michaels, Unless by Carol Shields, Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery, Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood and American War by Omar El Akkad.

Carol Shield's Unless

Carol Shields's Unless was published to critical acclaim in 2002. The novel follows a well-to-do middle-aged writer named Reta Winters, whose daughter disappears and turns up on a Toronto street corner begging for money. The book was a finalist for the Giller Prize and was featured on Canada Reads in 2011, when it was defended by Lorne Cardinal.

Shields's work has been translated into 33 languages. Her long list of literary honours includes the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, which she won for The Stone Diaries.

Born in Illinois, Shields moved to Canada in 1957. Her first novel, Small Ceremonies, was published at the age of 40. She died in 2003 at the age of 68.

Unless is included under the BBC's "politics, power & protest" category, alongside The Color Purple by Alice Walker, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie, Lord of the Flies by William Golding, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee and V for Vendetta by Alan Moore.



To read profiles of the other Canadian authors and novels that were included on the BBC list, see the entire article on CBC Books.

Here is the entire BBC list of 100 Novels that Shaped Our World.

 

2017-08/30
Carol's play to be produced in Toronto this Fall!

Tickets are now available.

October 20 to November 4, 2017
ALUMNAE THEATRE, TORONTO

Click here for more information or to buy tickets.



2016-10/08
Startle and Illuminate in Whistler

Anne Giardini and Nicholas Giardini appear at the Whistler Writers Festival in The Lives of Writers: Carol Shields, A Legacy, to present Startle and Illuminate, a writing book on craft written in Carol's own words. It takes place on Saturday, Oct. 15 at 4:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased at whistlerwritersfest.com.

Read article here.

 

2016-09-08
Commemorative bust created to honour Carol Shields

Read about it here: http://news.umanitoba.ca/paying-tribute-to-the-legacy-of-a-literary-lion/

 

2016-08-16
Unless, the movie

The film version of Unless will have its World Premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival 2016.

The movie was directed by Alan Gilsenan. The cast includes Catherine Keener, Matt Craven, Hannah Gross, Chloe Rose, Abigail Winter, Martha Henry, Brendan Coyle, Hanna Schygulla, Linda Kash and Benjamin Ayres.

We look forward to the movie being in full release soon.



2016-05-17

The Next Chapter with Shelagh Rogers Interview

Anne Giardini and Nick Giardini will discuss Startle and Illuminate with host Shelagh Rogers
CBC Radio One and Serius XM
Saturday, June 4th
sometime between 4:30 and 5:00 pm (the show starts at 4 pm - always worth listening to!)
or listen to the interview online (as of June 4th) at cbc.ca/thenextchapter



2016-05-05
PRESS for Startle and Illuminate

The Globe and Mail article

Maclean's Magazine article

Quill & Quire review

There are still Startle and Illuminate launch events happening. Check below for dates and venues.



2016-03-01
Two new books to be released in April

Startle and Illuminate: Carol Shields on Writing

Release April 26, 2016, Random House Canada.
Order from Amazon.ca.

In the course of her extraordinary career, which included the novels The Stone Diaries, Larry's Party, The Republic of Love and Unless, as well as poetry, short stories, biography and plays, Carol Shields was unfailingly encouraging of other writers. She read and commented on her friends' manuscripts. She taught writing classes and she spoke and wrote on the craft of writing. Her own discipline rarely faltered. Her daily practice was to write a new page, then edit the page written the day before, then repeat, until, after a year or so, her book was finished. Now in her own words, as clear and straightforward as a glass of water, comes Startle and Illuminate, the best possible guide to the writing process, from conception to publication. This essential work, drawn by her daughter Anne Giardini and grandson Nicholas Giardini from her voluminous correspondence with other writers, essays, notes, comments, criticism and lectures, is a last gift from one of our finest novelists meant for both aspiring and established writers. It helps answer some of the most fundamental questions about writing: such as, why we write at all, whether writing can be taught, what keeps a reader turning the pages, and how a writer knows when a work is done.

For Shields's devoted readers, Startle and Illuminate reveals her own thoughts on why we read—to be the other, to touch and taste the experience of the other; and why we write—for the joy of the making, to reimagine our world, to discover patterns and uncover forms that echo our realities as well as interrogate them, to imagine alternate worlds. It is a beautiful legacy.



LAUNCH EVENTS for Startle and Illuminate

INCITE event with the Vancouver International Writers Festival (VIWF)
Date: Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Time: 7:30pm
Location: Vancouver Public Library, Central Library - Alice MacKay Room 350 West Georgia Street Vancouver B.C.
Phone (VIFW): 604-681-6330 Phone (Library): 604-331-3603
Details: Free admission
Website: http://writersfest.bc.ca

 

A Different Drummer Books Brunch
Date: Tuesday, May 10, 2016
Time: 9:30 am
Location: Burlington Golf & Country Club 422 North Shore Blvd. East. Burlington ON
Phone (Different Drummer): 905-639-0925
Details: Part of Book & Author Series - sold as three part session
Website: http://www.differentdrummerbooks.ca

 

Event with the Toronto Reference Library
Date: Thursday, May 19, 2016
Time: 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: Toronto Reference Library Atrium, 789 Yonge Street, Toronto
Phone: 416-395-5577
Details: Book signing to follow
Website: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca

 

Event with the Runnymede Public Library
Date: Tuesday, May 24, 2016
Time: TBA
Location: 2178 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Phone: 416-393-7697
Details: TBA
Website: http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca

 

Event with KAMA Reading Series
Date: Wednesday, May 25, 2016
Time: Begins at 6:00 pm
Location: Gardiner Museum 111 Queen's Park Toronto
Phone: 416-977-0008
Details: Single tickets available for $65, series pass is $295
Website: http://www.worldlit.ca

 

Event with McNally Robinson
Date: Friday, May 27, 2016
Time: 7:00 pm
Location: Grant Park in the Atrium, Winnipeg
Phone: 1-800-561-1833
Details: Co-presented by the Winnipeg International Writers Festival as part of our collaborative Spring Literary Series.
Website: http://www.mcnallyrobinson.com

 

Susanna Moodie: Roughing It in the Bush

Release April 12, 2016

From the late Carol Shields and Patrick Crowe from Xenophile Media, a new graphic novel illuminating Canadian pioneer history and the life of one of Canada's earliest female writers.

Order from Amazon.ca.