The author and and the 11th Chancellor of Simon Fraser University, Anne Giardini discusses the new book she co-edited with Nicholas Giardini, Startle and Illuminate: Carol Shields on Writing (Random House, 2016), with Joseph Planta.

Startle and Illuminate: Carol Shields on Writing edited by Anne Giardini and Nicholas Giardini (Random House, 2016). Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: Startle and Illuminate

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver, at TheCommentary.ca.

A marvelous new book out now is Startle and Illuminate: Carol Shields on Writing. It’s a book edited by Shields’ daughter Anne Giardini, and her son, Shields’s grandson, Nicholas Giardini. Taken from Shields’s letters, essays, notes, lectures, and various other material found in the archives, it provides wisdom on writing, publishing, fiction, reading, and generally life itself. Anne Giardini joins me now, and I’ll get her to tell us about that which Carol Shields felt about writing, the writing process and more. Carol Shields died in 2003, but leaves a tremendous legacy with this book. In a career that included various honours and awards, including a Pulitzer Prize, this book will serve many writers, aspiring or otherwise well. Anne Giardini is the author of two novels, The Sad Truth About Happiness, and Advice for Italian Boys. She’s working on a third, soon to be published. She is the eleventh chancellor of Simon Fraser University, and she’s had a distinguished career as an executive, board director and lawyer. This new book is published by Random House. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, in Ottawa today, Anne Giardini; Ms. Giardini, good morning.

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