Meet Elaine Lee: the Shields Prize Events and Fundraising Assistant for the Summer
Elaine at the tech booth during
the 2026 Shields Prize Ceremony.
Elaine Lee joined the Carol Shields Prize Foundation for this summer as our Events and Fundraising Assistant. She has been a great asset to the team, and we asked her some questions about her experience so far.
Shields Prize: What have you enjoyed about your time with the Prize?
Elaine: It has been a true pleasure being a part of an incredibly hard-working team that is so devoted to uplifting women and non-binary writers. I’m grateful to be able to learn from how Alex, Emily, and Natália approach their work with care and generosity.
Shields Prize: What stayed with you from the events?
Elaine: The convivial, warm atmosphere at both our public reading and the prize ceremony cemented for me the importance of literary community. Reading and writing are not necessarily solitary endeavours—they connect people in incredibly meaningful ways.
Shields Prize: What is something you’ve learned that you are taking with you as a professional?
Elaine: Clear communication goes a long way, especially on a small team where everyone is somewhat involved in everything. I am also learning that working with books in any capacity inevitably means moving boxes of books from one place to another, on and on, forever.
Elaine and Jade at the
check in desk during our
reading event celebrating the
2026 shortlist
About Elaine:
Elaine Lee lives and writes in Toronto. She works in arts administration and as a teaching assistant. She holds an MA in English in the Field of Creative Writing at the University of Toronto, where she was awarded the E. J. Pratt Award in Poetry. Her writing can be found in Room Magazine, Event Magazine, and elsewhere.
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This position was made possible by the generous support of the Canada Summer Jobs Program.
