“To writers starting work on their first novel, I would advise treating it like a marathon. It will likely take years, and it will be psychologically difficult. There will be moments when you really want to give up… So listen to that moment and just keep going,” Reva told CBC Books.
The annual award recognises the best Canadian debut novel of the year. Reva received a cash prize of $60,000, presented by Amazon.ca and The Walrus.
“Endling is a sophisticated, multi-layered and brilliant work: funny, dark, inventive, marvellous, honest — and strange, which is perhaps the best compliment of all. ‘Can fiction overcome reality?’ asks Endling, and shows us that the answer is a resounding yes,” said category judge Anne Fleming.
Endling is Reva’s debut novel, published by Knopf Canada. The story follows Eva, a biologist who lives in a mobile laboratory and is attempting to breed rare snails in Ukraine’s forests. While her family wants her to settle down and start a family of her own, they are unaware that she is already involved with multiple men in order to secure funding for her work.
Maria Reva is a Canadian writer of Ukrainian origin. She was born in Kherson and lived there until the age of seven. In 1997, she moved to Canada with her family and grew up in Vancouver, British Columbia.
She is best known for her short-story collection Good Citizens Need Not Fear, which draws on family stories about life in Ukraine during the Soviet era. Her work has been published in The Atlantic, McSweeney’s and The Best American Short Stories anthology.