(2004 4th Estate/HarperCollins dj; jacket photo: Susan Rosenthal/Corbis)
(left: signed Vintage Books/Random House, 1993 pb; design: Concrete Design Communications; photos: David Purdie; right: scarce Connie Booth (Fawlty Towers) reading, 1995 Reed Audio cassettes; cover photo: David Purdie, design: Andrea Pinnington)
(left: signed 1997 Random House dj; design: Jonathan Howells, photos: Vivian Gast; right: rare Penguin Audio, 1997 cassettes read by author; design: Martin Ogolter, photo: Macduff Everton Swanstock)
(left: 1987 Random House dj, photo: “Monique” by Barbara Cole, Mira Godard Gallery; design: Concrete Design Communications; right: 2004 Pathe DVD starring Miranda Richardson)
(signed ltd. ed. 1997 Harbourfront chapbook; design: Alan Siu)
Born in the Oak Park district of Chicago, Carol (Ann) Shields (1935-2003) moved to live, teach, and write in Winnipeg, MB. The Stone Diaries won the Governor General Award for fiction in 1993 and then the Pulitzer Prize in 1995. She also wrote The Republic of Love (1992), Swann (1987), and Larry’s Party (1997) as well as stories, collected together in the first book pictured above. A popular cultural figure locally, she was made the Chancellor of the University of Winnipeg. I have long been impressed by her quirky stories and used “Invitations” and “Fragility” in a couple of my story anthologies.