Carol Shields (1935–2003) was an American-born Canadian award-winning novelist, short story writer, essayist, playwright, and poet.
Nora Foster Stovel is Professor Emerita at the University of Alberta. She has published on Jane Austen, D.H. Lawrence, Margaret Drabble, Carol Shields, and Margaret Laurence, including Divining Margaret Laurence: A Study of Her Complete Writings, The Collected Poetry of Carol Shields, and Relating Carol Shields's Essays and Fiction: Crossing Borders.