Mr. Speaker, I would like to congratulate Canadian author Carol Shields for the award she has just won.
Last week the U.S. National Book Critics Circle awarded its 1994 fiction prize to this author for her most recent work entitled The Stone Diaries . The Stone Diaries is a warm, witty story of a fictitious Canadian woman's life. This work has attained both national and international recognition. It was awarded the Governor General's Award for English language fiction in 1993, the McNally Robinson Award for Manitoba Book of the Year and was short listed for Britain's prestigious Booker Prize.
Carol Shields was also chosen author of the year by the Canadian Booksellers' Association. A native of Winnipeg, Mrs. Shields also holds numerous literary prizes for her other works.
She will be presented with the award on March 23 in New York.
My colleagues join me in congratulating Carol Shields once again and in encouraging her in her literary pursuits.