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Born Carol Ann Warner in Oak Park, Illinois, she studied at Hanover College, the University of Exeter in England, and the University of Ottawa, where she received an M.A.

In 1956 while on a college exchange visit to Britain she met a Canadian engineering student, Donald Hugh Shields, in Scotland. The couple married in 1957 and moved to Canada, where they had five children and Carol became a Canadian citizen. Don, who became a professor of Civil EngineeringIn modern usage, civil engineering is a broad field of engineering that deals with the planning, construction, and maintenance of fixed structures as they related to earth, water, or civilization and their processes. Most civil engineering today deals wit, is reported to have said of their meeting and their long and happy marriage, "In engineering, once you've found a woman, that's it. The job's over".

Carol worked as an editorial assistant for the journal Canadian Slavonic Papers and as a professor at the University of Ottawa, and the University of British ColumbiaThe University of British Columbia UBC is located on Point Grey in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located just 30 minutes from downtown Vancouver, the university is near several beaches and has views of the local mountains. 63 km² Pacific Spirit Reg. She served as Chancellor and Professor at the University of ManitobaThe University of Manitoba (established in 1877) is one of two universities in Winnipeg, Manitoba and was the first university ever established in Western Canada. It was created to confer degrees on the three founding colleges. They were: St. Boniface Col in Winnipeg, where she taught EnglishThe English language is a West Germanic language, originating from England. It is the third most common "first" language (native speakers), with around 402 million people in 2002. English has lingua franca status in many parts of the world, due to the mil for twenty years. In 2000 she and Don moved to Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria is a Canadian city, and the provincial capital of British Columbia. Victoria also refers to Greater Victoria including this municipality and those immediately surrounding it. It is also the seat of the Capital Regional District. Location It is ne, where she died of cancer at age 68.

Carol Shields is the author of several novels and short-story collections, including The Orange Fish, Swann (published in the UK as Mary Swann), Various Miracles, Happenstance, and The Republic of Love. Her books have won a Canada Council Major Award, two National Magazine Awards, the 1990 Marian Engel AwardThe Marian Engel Award is presented each year by the Writers' Trust of Canada in memory of the Canadian writer Marian Engel. The award goes to a female Canadian novelist who is in the middle of her career. It is awarded for the entire body of the recipien, the Canadian Author's Award, and a CBC short story award. She was appointed as an Officer of the Order of CanadaThe Order of Canada is Canada's highest civilian honour, awarded to those who adhere to the Order's motto Desiderantes meliorem patriam meaning "they desire a better country. The Order was created on July 1, 1967, on the country's 100th anniversary, to re in 1998 and a Companion of the Order of Canada in 2002. Carol was also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and a member of the Order of Manitoba .

The Stone Diaries won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and Canada's Governor General's Award, the only book ever to win both awards. It was nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the 1993 Booker Prize, and was also named one of the best books of the year by Publishers Weekly and a "Notable Book" by The New York Times Book Review. She won the 1998 Orange Prize for Fiction for the novel Larry's Party.

Her last novel, Unless, was nominated for the 2002 Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award, the Booker Prize and the 2003 Orange Prize for Fiction. She also wrote a biography of Jane Austen before she died.

Shields was noted for her gentle, witty yet penetrating insights into human nature. Her most famous works examined the lives of regular people, depicting a profound and universal humanity in even the most ordinary moments of her characters' lives.