Our Programs

Programs like mentorships, scholarships, and residencies are crucial to the Carol Shields Prize Foundation’s mission to celebrate and support creativity and excellence in the literary arts by women and non-binary writers in the United States and Canada. Learn more about our flagship program, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, here.

We have partnered with literary organizations and institutions such as Diaspora Dialogues, Institute of American Indian Arts, McCormack Writing Center (formerly Tin House Workshop), University of Toronto, Banff Centre, Fogo Island Inn, and Historic Joy Kogawa House in order to support women and non-binary writers, with a particular focus on providing financial support for BIPOC and emerging writers.

Learn more about each of these programs below:

Scholarships & Fellowships  •  Residencies & Stays

Scholarships & Fellowships

The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Scholarship and Residency at Banff Centre

The Scholarship, for a BIPOC woman or non-binary writer, supports tuition, accommodation, and a meal plan, allowing a writer to attend a Literary Arts residency program at Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada

  • K-Ming Chang is the 2025 recipient of he Carol Shields Prize Foundation Scholarship and Residency at Banff Centre. We asked K-Ming some questions after her life-changing experience at the residency. Learn more about her experience.

The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Fellowship at Diaspora Dialogues

This Fellowship provides financial support to a woman or non-binary BIPOC writer who is a refugee or new immigrant to Canada. The stipend is intended to provide opportunity for a writer to create, freer from financial constraints. As a part of the Fellowship, the recipient will also receive the support of a mentor to provide structured feedback on their work, as well as access to Diaspora Dialogues’ suite of professional development training and networking events. The Carol Shields Prize Foundation and Diaspora Dialogues are deeply grateful to the M.A. Faris Foundation for supporting this Fellowship.

  • Read our interview with Ugochi and watch her reading from a novel in progress.

    Ugochi Okoli is the 2025 Carol Shields Prize Foundation Fellowship at Diaspora Dialogues recipient. We asked Ugochi some questions about her transforming experience with the mentorship program.

    About: Ugochi Okoli is a Nigerian-born writer and communications professional based in Canada. Her work (poetry, fiction and non-fiction) explores themes of identity, womanhood, and belonging. Her poem “To the Broken Ones” was nominated for the Sundress Best of the Net Prize, and her writing has appeared in literary magazines such as The Fiction Pool, Leopard Skins and Limes, Active Muse, and elsewhere. She is also a contributor to the Women’s Power Vol. 2 anthology by the International Human Rights Art Festival (IHRF). With years of experience at the intersection of storytelling, leadership, and community engagement, Ugochi now serves as a Communications Coordinator, where she blends creativity with purpose across both her professional work and literary practice. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Nnamdi Azikiwe University and a graduate certificate in Creative Writing from Humber College. She is a recipient of the 2025 Carol Shields Prize Foundation Fellowship at Diaspora Dialogues, and she is also a 2024 Ujima Leadership Fellow with the African Centre. Rooted in personal history and cultural memory, Ugochi’s writing centers African stories and lived experiences. She is committed to using stories to spark empathy, shift perspectives, and make space for diverse voices.

  • Read our Q&A with Sana’a Jaber

    The inaugural recipient of the Fellowship is Sana’a Jaber. Sana’a Jaber is an award-winning filmmaker and writer with over 18 years of experience. With a background in English Literature, she honed her craft at the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts’ MFA program, a joint venture of Steven Spielberg, King Abdullah of Jordan, and UCLA. In 2019, Sana’a and her small family crossed the American Border and sought asylum in Canada, escaping turmoil in Lebanon. Her work explores womanhood, motherhood, displacement, and the universal need to belong.

The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Fellowship at the Institute of American Indian Arts

Founded on October 1, 1962, the Institute of American Indian Arts offers academic excellence to both Native and non-Native populations. The goal of IAIA is empowerment through education, economic self-sufficiency, and expression and enhancement of artistic and cultural traditions. The Fellowship supports a woman or non-binary BIPOC writer from the U.S. or Canada enrolled in the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Creative Writing program to support their junior and senior years of study.

  • Read a Q&A with Sarah Camille Chiago.

    The inaugural recipient of the Fellowship is Sarah Camille Chiago. Sarah Camille Chiago is an enrolled member of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. However, she considers half of her heart rooted within the Gila River Indian Community, where her mother is from and where most of her inspiration for poetry lies along the desert floor. Raised by a single mother traveling back and forth between Arizona and California, she uses poetry to connect back to herself and all that has become lost along the way. She is currently a Senior at the Institute of American Indian Arts, where she studies creative writing with an emphasis on poetry,

The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Scholarship for Indigenous Women and Non-Binary Writers

The Scholarship supports a writer’s attendance at McCormack Summer Workshop. The award covers full tuition, room and board, and a travel stipend.

  • My Panelli writes strange fiction. They are Southern Cheyenne, queer and currently live in Seattle Washington. Click here to read an interview with My after their transformative experience at the workshop. Find them on Instagram.

  • Tashina Emery is known as the Clearing of the Sky Cloud woman, Misanaquadikwe. The one who can clear a cloudy day. Tashina is from the small reservation, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of Michigan. She teaches during the day as an Adjunct Professor at my Tribal Community College, taking a few classes my self learning about my people, from my people. She runs a jewelry business during the evening. She writes into the night, after earning her MFA in Creative Writing at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She recently was the Associate Judge for her Tribe's Judicial Branch, appointed by the Tribal Council after the passing of our Chief Judge, my appointment ended in January. Doing it all while being a mother; worrying and caring for my little brown baby and all future brown babies. My movement on and off the reservation has led to my passion as a lifelong learner, adding to her life bundle and superpowers of legacy.

  • The inaugural recipient of the Scholarship is Chantal Rondeau. Chantal Rondeau (MFA IAIA) is an Indigenous writer, journalist, TV personality, and documentary filmmaker. She is a member of the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation in the territory of the Yukon, and is of the Hanjek Hudan Clan (Crow People). Chantal has been published in Northern Public Journal, Xoxo Jane, and Urban Native Magazine, among others. She has written and directed four films, two of which have been broadcast on APTN. She ultimately hopes to tell stories that shift perceptions and lead to a global understanding of the modern-day Indigenous people.

The Jim Polk/Carol Shields Prize Foundation Scholarship in Creative Writing

The Scholarship supports a woman or non-binary writer in the Master of Arts in Creative Writing program at the University of Toronto. The aim of the scholarship is to support the growth of writers from traditionally underrepresented groups. The Carol Shields Prize Foundation and the University of Toronto are deeply grateful to Jim Polk for supporting this Scholarship.

  • Janielle Browne is a 26-year-old Vincentian writer and poet who has been writing since the age of eleven and is passionate about her faith, community work, creative arts, and education. After being awarded the University of the West Indies Open Scholarship, she attained a BA in Literatures in English with History and a Postgraduate Diploma in Education.

    Janielle has since been published in IntersectAnu, ACalabash, and Canadian literary magazine Kola. Along with being shortlisted for the 2021 BCLF Elizabeth Nunez Prize for Writers in the Caribbean, she won the 2019 St. Vincent and the Grenadines Independence Poetry Competition, 2021 H. Nigel Thomas Fiction prize, and placed third for the Shake Keane Elsworth Poetry Prize before winning the 2022 SVG Innovation Literary Competition. After teaching at the Bishop’s College Kingstown Secondary School for four years, Janielle is now in her first year pursuing a M.A. in Creative Writing at the University of Toronto.

  • The inaugural recipient of the Scholarship was Salima Tourkmani-MacDonald. Salima Tourkmani-MacDonald was born and raised in Riverview, New Brunswick, and received her B.A. in English Literature from St. Thomas University in Fredericton in 2022. She developed a passion for creative writing in high school, with a particular affinity for poetry. Since then, writing poetry has provided her with an outlet to express herself unapologetically and without interruption. Much of her work is inspired by lived experience, and hinges on themes of race, displacement, and family.

Residencies & Stays

Banff Centre Group Retreat

The four Finalists and the Winner are invited to participate in a group retreat residency in the Leighton Artist Studios, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

  • 2025 Carol Shields Prize for Fiction Finalists Rhonda Mullins (top left), Sarah Manguso (bottom left), Aube Rey Lescure (bottom right), and Winner Canisia Lubrin pose at the Banff Centre. Read about their experience.

Fogo Island Inn

This annual stay for the winner or for one of the Prize finalists includes a full-board stay for up to five nights at Newfoundland’s famed, otherworldly Fogo Island Inn. Set on an island in the North Atlantic, the award-winning Inn is built on the principles of sustainability and respect for nature and culture. The writer can use this time however they want, perhaps to work on their next book or to relax and rebalance. While there, the author will be asked to give a public talk to local residents and a workshop for local writers. Thanks to Fogo Island Inn for generously donating this retreat.

  • “To be born and raised on an island is to be aware that so much of life depends on small things, that the finitude of the island does not itself foreclose the profound.

    My time on Fogo Island was this extraordinary reminder that the best of what it means to be human is to insist on the audacity to transform small things into livable conditions big enough to share.

    Zita Cobb and her mighty small crew have dreamed something remarkable into being through this very process.

    I left thinking that Fogo Island is such a place where the hope of a humane world seems, without cynicism, still alive. To be there was, in a word, revitalizing, and in no small part due to the magical Fogo Island Inn and the Shields Prize.” 

  • “My stay at Fogo Island was an unforgettable experience, from the hospitality of the Inn staff to the breathtaking hikes and views. It was wonderful to meet the community members who came to a discussion about Brotherless Night and my writing process. Thanks to The Carol Shields Prize Foundation and Fogo Island Inn for this unique gift and for the opportunity to rest and recharge!"

    Read more about Sugi’s experience.

    V. V. Ganeshananthan is the author of the novels Brotherless Night (a New York Times Editors’ Choice) and Love Marriage, which was longlisted for the Women's Prize and named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post. Her work has appeared in Granta, The New York Times, and The Best American Nonrequired Reading, among others. A former vice president of the South Asian Journalists Association, she has also served on the board of the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and is presently a member of the boards of the American Institute for Sri Lankan Studies and the Minnesota Prison Writing Workshop. She teaches in the MFA program at the University of Minnesota and co-hosts the Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast on Literary Hub, which is about the intersection of literature and the news.

  • “I was amazed to be at Fogo for the residency, where I was able to cocoon and write while being pampered." 

    Fatimah Asghar, author of If They Come for Us, is a poet, filmmaker, educator, and performer. They are the writer and co-creator of Brown Girls, an Emmy- nominated web series that highlights friendships between women of color. Along with Safia Elhillo, they are the editor of Halal If You Hear Me, an anthology that celebrates Muslim writers who are also women, queer, gender-nonconforming, and/or trans. A co-producer on Disney+’s Ms. Marvel, they wrote the “Time and Again” episode. Their debut novel When We Were Sisters, won the inaugural Carol Shields Prize and was longlisted for the National Book Award. Currently, they are a Sundance Doris Duke Muslim Artists Fellow, where they are adapting When We Were Sisters into a feature film. 

Carol Shields Prize Foundation Residency at Hedgebrook

Hedgebrook is a global community of women writers and people who seek extraordinary books, poetry, plays, films, and music by women. A literary nonprofit, Hedgebrook’s mission is to support visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. Hedgebrook offers writing residencies, Radical Craft Retreats, and salons at their retreat on Whidbey Island, and public programs that connect writers with readers and audiences around the world.

Hedgebrook will select one woman-identified writer from the United States or Canada to receive the Carol Shields Prize Foundation Residency at Hedgebrook, a twelve-day residency at Hedgebrook. The writer will use the residency to further a literary project. The residency includes a private cottage and all meals.

  • Read our Q+A with Diamond.

    Diamond Braxton is the 2025 Carol Shields Prize Foundation Residency at Hedgebrook recipient. Of the experience, Diamond said “As an emerging writer of color, I have experienced plenty of rejection and moments of not feeling seen, valued, or understood by literary and institutional spaces. Receiving the Carol Shields Prize Foundation Residency at Hedgebrook was an enormous affirmation at a crucial point in my career. This accomplishment reminds me that my work has worth and value, that people see what I am working toward, and that others believe in the growth of my writing. Because of this, I feel more energized than ever about my collection, future projects, and trajectory towards being a published author.”

  • Christina spent two incredibly impactful weeks at @hedgebrookin the Spring, and the stay was deeply meaningful to her. Of her time there, she wrote: “As someone who's pursued writing for several years, there have been numerous times I wanted to throw in the towel. And between all my gigs to support myself, as well as the labor of being a caregiver for my sister, it's challenging to find truly quiet space and time to sink into my writing. But Hedgebrook gave me just that, and so much more. The potent land, the well-appointed cozy cabin, the journal entries from past writers (many of whom I'm such big fans of), the loving care and meals the entire staff provided—it was all the perfect mix to generate pages that I could not wait to get back to each morning. I slept, I wrote, I walked, I painted, I danced, I sang, I cried, I read. I replenished and felt so nourished. Thank you so very much for this gift, and for believing in me.”

The Carol Shields Prize Foundation Residency at Historic Joy Kogawa House

The Residency provides a woman or non-binary writer from the United States or Canada with a month-long residency at the House in order to further a literary project. The residency includes the use of Historic Joy Kogawa House (a fully furnished home) and covers the cost of the writer’s travel to and from their home city to Vancouver. During the residency, the writer will offer one workshop or literary event for local writers; they will also participate in a weekly writing group.

  • The inaugural recipient of the Residency is Lisa Bird-Wilson. Lisa Bird-Wilson is a Saskatchewan Métis and Cree writer whose work appears in literary magazines, newspapers, and anthologies across Canada. Her most recent book, Probably Ruby (2021), is published internationally and was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, for the Amazon First Novel Award, and won two Saskatchewan Book Awards, including Book of the Year.

    Her collection of short stories, Just Pretending (Coteau Books 2013), won four Saskatchewan Book Awards, including 2014 Book of the Year, was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Award, and was the 2019 One Book, One Province selection. Bird-Wilson’s debut poetry collection, The Red Files (Nightwood Editions 2016), is inspired by family and archival sources and reflects on the legacy of the residential school system and the fragmentation of families and histories.

    Lisa Bird-Wilson is the past prose editor for Grain magazine as well as a founding member and chair of the Saskatchewan Aboriginal Writers Circle Inc (SAWCI) / Ânskohk Indigenous Literature Festival. Lisa lives in Saskatoon and is the CEO of the Gabriel Dumont Institute, Canada’s first Métis post-secondary education and cultural institute.