Carol Shields

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Carol Shields

Born:	June 2, 1935 Oak Park, Illinois
Died:	July 16, 2003 Victoria, British Columbia
Occupation:	Author
Writing period:	1972 - 2002

Carol Ann Shields (née Warner), CC , OM , D.Litt. , LL.D , FRSC (June 2, 1935 – July 16, 2003) was an American-born Canadian author. She is best known for her successful 1993 novel The Stone Diaries, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Governor General's Award

Contents 1 Biography 2 Career 3 Bibliography 3.1 Novels 3.2 Short stories 3.3 Poetry 3.4 Plays 3.5 Criticism 3.6 Biography 3.7 Anthologies 4 External links

[edit] Biography

Shields was born in Oak Park, Illinois. She studied at Hanover College, where she became member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority, the University of Exeter in England, and the University of Ottawa, where she received an MA.

In 1956, while on a college exchange visit to Scotland, she met a Canadian engineering student, Donald Hugh Shields. The couple married in 1957 and moved to Canada, where they had five children. Shields later became a Canadian citizen.

In 1973, Shields became editorial assistant for the journal Canadian Slavonic Papers. In 1977, she became a professor at the University of Ottawa, where she stayed for a year. She later taught at the University of British Columbia and travelled around the country. In 1980, she settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba. There, Shields became professor of English at the University of Manitoba. In 1996, she became chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. In 2000, Shields and her husband moved to Victoria, British Columbia, where she died in 2003 of breast cancer [1] at age 68.

[edit] Career

Shields was the author of several novels and short story collections, including The Orange Fish (1989), Swann (1987), Various Miracles (1985), Happenstance (1980), and The Republic of Love (1992). She was the recipient of a Canada Council Major Award, two National Magazine Awards, the 1990 Marian Engel Award, the Canadian Author's Award, and a CBC short story award. She was appointed as an officer of the Order of Canada in 1998 and was elevated to companion of the Order in 2002. Shields was also a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Manitoba.

The Stone Diaries (1993) won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the 1993 Governor General's Award, the only book to have ever received both awards. It was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the 1993 Booker Prize, and was named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly. It was also chosen as a "Notable Book" by The New York Times Book Review which wrote "The Stone Diaries reminds us again why literature matters."

She won the 1998 Orange Prize for Fiction for the 1997 novel Larry's Party. Her last novel, Unless (2002), was nominated for the 2002 Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award, the Booker Prize and the 2003 Orange Prize for Fiction. It was awarded the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize.

Shields was also intensely interested in Jane Austen. She wrote the biography entitled Jane 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, Ontario, Canada on April 22, 2002.

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Novels

• Small Ceremonies, 1976
• The Box Garden, 1977
• Happenstance, 1980
• A Fairly Conventional Woman, 1982
• Swann: A Mystery, 1987 (UK title: Mary Swann)
• A Celibate Season, 1991 (with Blanche Howard)
• The Republic of Love, 1992
• The Stone Diaries, 1993 (winner of the Governor General's Award and the Pulitzer Prize)
• Larry's Party, 1997 (winner of the Orange Prize, National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Prix de Livre)
• Unless, 2002 (winner of the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize)

[edit] Short stories

• Various Miracles, 1985
• The Orange Fish, 1989
• Dressing Up for the Carnival, 2000
• Collected Stories, 2004

[edit] Poetry

• Others, 1972
• Intersect, 1974
• Coming to Canada, 1992

[edit] Plays

• Departures and Arrivals, 1990
• Thirteen Hands, 1993
• Fashion Power Guilt and the Charity of Families, 1995 (with Catherine Shields)
• Anniversary: A Comedy, 1998 (with David Williamson)
• Women Waiting
• Duet, 2003

[edit] Criticism

• Susanna Moodie: Voice and Vision, 1976

[edit] Biography

• Jane Austen, 2001

[edit] Anthologies

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

[edit] External links

• Observer Interview with Carol Shields
• Guardian Obituary
• CBC Obituary
• Profile in the Manitoba Author Publication Index

Persondata
NAME	Shields, Carol Ann
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Warner, Carol Ann
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American author
DATE OF BIRTH	June 2, 1935
PLACE OF BIRTH	Oak Park, Illinois
DATE OF DEATH	July 16, 2003
PLACE OF DEATH	Victoria, British Columbia