In the following interview, Shields discusses genre, form, and her writing process as they relate to several of her works.

In the following review, Oates discusses Shields's Dressing Up for the Carnival along with several other recent story collections by various authors. Oates comments that Shields's stories are intelligent, provocative, and entertaining.

In the following essay, Wachtel provides an overview of Shields's life and career.

In the essay below, Weil considers structure and narration in Shields's short stories.

In the essay below, Page discusses Shields's observations about fiction, biography, and sources in Small Ceremonies.

In the following review, Sterns asserts that a fundamental weakness of Unless is Shields's failure to adequately define or sufficiently explore her central thematic concern with the concept of goodness.

In the following essay, Ricci offers a personal account of her encounters with Shields as a fellow novelist. Ricci praises Shields's experimental narrative structure and shifting points of view in The Stone Diaries.

In the following review of Jane Austen, Hammill comments that Shields provides a genuinely new perspective on Austen's life while highlighting the speculative nature of biography.

In the review below, MacDonald praises Small Ceremonies and places Shields within the Canadian literary tradition.

In the following review, Fellman discusses Shields's interest in form and personality in Swann and her investigations into order and chaos in the stories in Various Miracles.

In the following review, Schwartz compares the stories in Dressing Up for the Carnival to Shields's novels, observing that the stories are more rooted in ideas than in character.

In the following review, Showalter describes Unless as a novel that takes aesthetic and imaginative risks and debates questions of women's art and its reception.

In the following review of Small Ceremonies and The Box Garden, Lipton compares the protagonists from each novel.

In the following review, Ratcliffe offers high praise for Unless, asserting that the story demonstrates Shields at her tragi-comic best.

In the following obituary, Colvin provides a brief overview of Shields's life and work.

In the following review, Ciabattari judges Unless as a consummately poignant and artistic novel.

In the following review, Horvath argues that A Fairly Conventional Woman fails to live up to the high standards Shields established in her earlier novels.

In the following obituary, McLellan provides a brief overview of Shields's life and work.

In the following review of Coming to Canada, Hamelin praises Shields's poetry, stating that in it readers hear the same poignant voice of her novels.

In the following review, Rodd asserts that A Celibate Season makes pleasurable use of the co-written epistolary form, but judges the story as complacent and lacking the depth of Shields's previous novels.

In the following review, Brookner assesses Unless as a charming novel that addresses the marginalization of women in society.

In the following review, Charles describes Unless as a mischievous monologue that is remarkably subtle and unsettling.

In the following review of the expanded edition of Happenstance, Armstrong discusses the significance of daily events in the lives of the two characters.

In the following review of The Republic of Love, Donovan argues that Shields has taken the typical romance and infused it with depth and realism.

In the following review, Bond describes Unless as a powerful and funny novel that provides insight into the process of writing.

In the following review of Jane Austen, Keates praises Shields's depiction of Austen and her career, and values the focus within the biography on Austen's artistic development.

In the following review of Happenstance, Coates discusses the role of employment and work in the lives of the two central characters.

In the following review, Cusk offers high praise for Unless, calling it a remarkable novel about the realities of women's marginalized place in society.

In the following review, Allardice asserts that Shields's Jane Austen is a sincere and balanced biography that offers enlightening readings of Austen's work.

In the following review of The Orange Fish, Spettigue compares Shields' writing with the work of Alice Munro.

In the following obituary, Levy provides a brief overview of Shields's life and work.

In the following review, Glazebrook asserts that the two central characters in A Celibate Season are unsympathetic, and comments that the novel as a whole cannot overcome the limitations of the epistolary form.

In the following review, Hagen lauds Shields's “realistic focus” on her characters's lives in Unless, maintaining that Shields “is one of our best” contemporary writers.