Anne Giardini's guest appearances

Anne Giardini

The Biblio File hosted by Nigel Beale

Donald Trump

Quentin Tarantino

Nicholson Baker

Tom Doherty

Harlan Coben

Cory Doctorow

Yann Martel

Sydney Smith

George Eliot

Larry Thompson

Alex Ross

Lawrence Krauss

Margaret MacMillan

Lionel Trilling

Steven Heller

OwlTail

Carol Shields

Only seventeen women have won the Nobel Prize for Literature since it started in 1901. That's 17 out of 119 winners. In order to  rectify this imbalance, an important new prize has been established. The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is "the first English-language literary award to celebrate creativity and excellence in fiction by women writers in the United States and Canada." I wanted to learn more about Carol Shields, so I read  Startle and Illuminate, Carol Shields on Writing and interviewed one of its editors, Anne Giardini, who also happens to be Carol's daughter in addition to being a writer, and Chancellor of Simon Fraser University.  Startle and Illuminate is culled from decades worth of Carol's correspondence, essays, notes, comments, criticism and lectures,  and drawn together by Anne and her son Nicholas.  Anne and I talk here about, among other things, Carol's thoughts and advice on the craft of writing; redemption; Carol's voice on the page and in the air; the existence of ordinary, boring people; the invisibility of women's lives; group courage; rootedness; and candles matching housecoats. 

Only seventeen women have won the Nobel Prize for Literature since it started in 1901. That's 17 out of 119 winners. In order to  rectify this imbalance, an important new prize has been established. <a href="https://carolshieldsprizeforfiction.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction</a> is "the first English-language literary award to celebrate creativity and excellence in fiction by women writers in the United States and Canada." I wanted to learn more about Carol Shields, so I read <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/253215/startle-and-illuminate-by-anne-giardini-and-nicholas-giardini-eds/9780345815958" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> Startle and Illuminate, Carol Shields on Writing</a> and interviewed one of its editors, Anne Giardini, who also happens to be Carol's daughter in addition to being a writer, and Chancellor of Simon Fraser University.  Startle and Illuminate is culled from decades worth of Carol's correspondence, essays, notes, comments, criticism and lectures,  and drawn together by Anne and her son Nicholas.  Anne and I talk here about, among other things, Carol's thoughts and advice on the craft of writing; redemption; Carol's voice on the page and in the air; the existence of ordinary, boring people; the invisibility of women's lives; group courage; rootedness; and candles matching housecoats.

Anne Giardini on Carol Shields and the new Prize for Fiction