New York (February 25, 2021): The Authors Guild Foundation, the charitable and educational arm of the Authors Guild, today announced it has formed a partnership with the newly established Carol Shields Prize for Fiction to help administer the Prize’s charitable efforts in the United States.

Named for American-born and Canadian-based author Carol Shields, who was committed to “writing away the invisibility of women lives,” 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.

“The Authors Guild Foundation is committed to supporting diverse writers across the country to ensure that a rich body of literature representing all voices can flourish. As such. we are delighted to become partners with the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, which will further the recognition of women fiction writers in both the US and Canada,” said Roxana Robinson, ex-officio and honorary Council member of the Authors Guild, who helped bring the two organizations together.

“We are thrilled with the new charitable partnership between the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction and the Authors Guild. This new alliance will help broaden and strengthen our advocacy for women writers across the U.S. and Canada. In addition to the prize itself, The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction will undertake a number of charitable activities, including grants and mentorships. Our goal is to acknowledge, celebrate, and support a broad-range of women writers, including those who are marginalized or under-represented,” said Janice Zawerbny, Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Carol Shields Prize.

Beginning in 2023, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction will award 150,000 Canadian dollars (approximately US $113,000), for a work of fiction published in the previous year by a woman or nonbinary person. This makes this one of the largest monetary prizes awarded for literature, and by far the biggest award created to recognize the unique contribution and literary gifts of women authors.

Books published in English in the United States and Canada will be eligible, including those translated from another language. Writers must be citizens and current residents, for at least five years, of the United States or Canada. The winner and finalists will be selected by a judging panel that will include one writer each from the United States, Canada and another country.

To be considered for the prize, novels and short story collections must be submitted by the publisher. Full details on the prize and submission process will be made available closer to the submission date on the award website.

To support the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, please visit carolshieldsprizeforfiction.com/donate.

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About the Authors Guild Foundation
The Authors Guild Foundation is the charitable and educational arm of the Authors Guild. It educates, supports, and protects American writers to ensure that a vibrant, diverse body of literature can flourish. It does this by advocating for authors’ rights, educating authors across the country in the business of writing, and promoting an understanding of the value of writers.

About the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction
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.

Fans of Carol Shields will recognize the name behind the prize. American-born and Canadian-based author Carol Shields was committed to the wider recognition of writer’s voices and lives, and so the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction was born: her name a perfect match for the new preeminent literary prize for writers in the United States and Canada.