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Carol Shields

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This article is about the author. For the ophthalmologist specialising in ocular oncology, seeCarol Shields (ophthalmologist).For the actor, seeKarl Shiels.
Carol Shields
BornCarol Ann Warner
(1935-06-02)June 2, 1935
Oak Park, Illinois,US
DiedJuly 16, 2003(2003-07-16)(aged 68)
Victoria,British Columbia, Canada
OccupationAuthor
NationalityCanadian
American
EducationHanover College(BA)
University of Ottawa(MA)
Period1972–2002
Spouse
Donald Hugh Shields
​
(m.1957)​
Children5

Carol Ann ShieldsCCOMFRSC(néeWarner;June 2, 1935 – July 16, 2003) was an American-born Canadian novelist and short story writer. She is best known for her 1993 novelThe Stone Diaries,which won the U.S.Pulitzer Prize for Fictionas well as theGovernor General's Awardin Canada.

Early life and education[edit]

Shields was born Carol Ann Warner inOak Park, Illinois.[1]She studied atHanover College,in Indiana,[1]where she received a BA in English in 1957, and became a member of theAlpha Delta Pisorority. A United Nations scholarship encouraged Shields to spend a junior year abroad 1955–1956 at theUniversity of Exeterin England. Shields did post-graduate work at theUniversity of Ottawa,where she received anMAin 1975.

In 1955, while on British Council sponsored study week in Scotland, she met a Canadian engineering student, Donald Hugh Shields. The couple married in 1957 and moved to Canada, where they had a son and four daughters. Shields later became a Canadian citizen.[1]

Career[edit]

In 1973, Shields became editorial assistant for the journalCanadian Slavonic Paperswhile living in Ottawa 1968–1978. Her first novel,Small Ceremonies,was published in 1976, followed byThe Box Gardenin 1977. That year she worked as a sessional lecturer in the English Department at the University of Ottawa.[2]She taught Creative Writing at theUniversity of British Columbiawhile living in Vancouver from 1978 to 1980.

Shields' third novel,Happenstance,was published in 1980; that year, she and her husband settled inWinnipeg, Manitoba,after he was hired to teach in theUniversity of Manitoba's Faculty of Engineering. It was here that Shields wrote her better-known books.

From the fall of 1982 onward, Shields taught in the English Department at the University of Manitoba, first as an Assistant Professor (1982–1992), then as an Associate Professor (1992–1995). She published the novelSwannin 1987, andThe Republic of Lovein 1992.The Stone Diaries(1993) won the 1995Pulitzer Prize for Fictionand the1993 Governor General's Award,the only book to have ever received both awards.[3]It won the U.S.National Book Critics Circle Awardin 1994, and was nominated in 1993 for theBooker Prize.The Stone Diaries was named one of the best books of the year byPublishers Weekly.It was also chosen as a "Notable Book" byThe New York Times Book Review,which wrote "The Stone Diaries reminds us again why literature matters."

Shields was made Full Professor of English in 1995, and, in 1996, she became chancellor of theUniversity of Winnipeg.

Shields was the author of several short story collections, includingVarious Miracles(1985),The Orange Fish(1989), andDressing Up for the Carnival(2000). She was the recipient of aCanada CouncilMajor Award, two National Magazine Awards, the 1990Marian Engel Award,the Canadian Authors Award, and aCBCshort story award. She was appointed as an officer of theOrder of Canadain 1998 and was elevated to companion of the Order in 2002. Shields was also a fellow of theRoyal Society of Canadaand a member of theOrder of Manitoba.

Carol Shields won the 1998Orange Prize for Fictionfor her 1997 novelLarry's Party.Her last novel,Unless(2002), was nominated for the 2002Giller Prize,the Governor General of Canada Literary Award, the Booker Prize and the 2003 Orange Prize for Fiction. It was awarded theEthel Wilson Fiction Prize. On retirement in 2000, Shields became Professor Emerita at the University of Manitoba. That year, after Don's retirement, the couple moved toVictoria, British Columbia.

Shields also studied the works of Jane Austen. She wrote the biography entitledJane Austen,which won the $25,000 Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction in April 2002, an award accepted by her daughter Meg on her behalf in Toronto, on April 22, 2002.

Her last novel,Unless,contains a passionate defense of female writers who write of 'domestic' subjects.

Carol Shields wrote plays includingDepartures and Arrivalswhich has been performed hundreds of times by both amateur and professional theaters. Other celebrated plays includeThirteen Hand(1993),Fashion, Power, Guilt, and the Charity of Families(co-authored with daughter Catherine Shields)(1995), andUnless(with daughter Sara Cassidy) (2005). Collections of poems by Shields were published in 1972Others,1974Intersect,and 1992Coming to Canada.

Two collections of essays written by women about what they were not told became best sellers in Canada.Dropped Threads(2001) andDropped Threads 2(2003) were edited by Shields and her friend and colleague Marjorie Anderson.

Death and legacy[edit]

Shields died in 2003 of breast cancer at age 68 in Victoria.[1][4]

Following her death, six of her short stories were adapted byShaftesbury Filmsinto the dramatic anthology seriesThe Shields Stories.Her earlier short story collections were republished asCollected Stories of Carol Shieldsin 2005. Films based on Carol Shields's novels includeSwann(1996) andThe Republic of Love(2003). Her final novel,Unless,was adapted as a play in 2016 by Alan Gilsenan.[5]

Shields' eldest daughter,Anne Giardini,is also a writer. Giardini has contributed to theNational Postas a columnist, and has published her first novel,The Sad Truth About Happiness.Anne's second novel,Advice for Italian Boys,was published in 2009.[6]Giardini and her son, Nicholas, edited a book of Shields' thoughts and advice on writing,Startle and Illuminate,published in 2016.[7]

Shields' youngest daughter, Sara Cassidy, has published many children's books and young adult novels, includingSlick(2010),Windfall(2011), A Boy Named Queen (2016), and Nevers (2019), which was nominated for theGovernor General's Awardfor young people's literature.

In 2020, theCarol Shields Prize for Fictionwas announced as a new literary award to honor writing by Canadian and American women and non-binary authors.[8]

Honours and awards[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

Novels[edit]

Graphic novels[edit]

  • Susanna Moodie: Roughing it in the Bush,2016 (with Patrick Crowe and art by Selena Goulding)

Short stories[edit]

Poetry[edit]

  • Others,Ottawa: Borealis Press, 1972.
  • Intersect,Ottawa: Borealis Press, 1974.
  • Coming to Canada,Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1992.

Plays[edit]

  • Departures and Arrivals,1990
  • Thirteen Hands,1993
  • Fashion Power Guilt and the Charity of Families,1995 (with Catherine Shields)
  • Anniversary: A Comedy,1998 (with Dave Williamson)
  • Women Waiting,1983
  • Unless,2005
  • Larry's Party - the Musical,2000 (adapted by Richard Ouzounian with music by Marek Norman)
  • Thirteen Hands and Other Plays.Toronto: Vintage, 2002.

Criticism[edit]

  • Susanna Moodie: Voice and Vision,1976

Biography[edit]

  • Jane Austen.New York: Viking, 2001.

Anthologies[edit]

  • Dropped Threads: What We aren't Told.Toronto: Vintage, 2001. (edited with Marjorie Anderson)
  • Dropped Threads 2: More of What We aren't Told.Toronto: Vintage, 2003. (edited with Marjorie Anderson)

Movies[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^abcdLehmann-Haupt, Christopher (July 18, 2003)."Carol Shields, Pulitzer-Prize Winning Novelist, Dies at 68".The New York Times.
  2. ^"Carol Shields".The Guardian,Alex Clark, 18 Jul 2003
  3. ^"The 'indecently curious' Carol Shields".Donna Bailey Nurse,Maclean's,May 1, 2016
  4. ^Barbara Ellen,"Human Shields".The Guardian,April 28, 2002.
  5. ^Julie Crawford,"Family mystery at the heart of Carol Shields' final novel".North Shore News,October 14, 2016.
  6. ^Marsha Lederman,"Daughter of Carol Shields reflects on her own literary awakening".The Globe and Mail,February 13, 2015.
  7. ^Marsha Lederman,"Collection of Carol Shields's advice illuminates the writing life".The Globe and Mail,May 6, 2016.
  8. ^Deborah Dundas,"New $150,000 Carol Shields fiction prize 'to shine a light on women writers'".Toronto Star,February 7, 2020.
  9. ^"The 1995 Pulitzer Prize Winner in Fiction".Pulitzer Prize website
  10. ^"Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement".achievement.org.American Academy of Achievement.

External links[edit]

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