Published Sep 17, 2025 \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 Last updated 5\u00a0hours ago \u00a0\u2022\u00a0 7 minute read<\/p>\n
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Author Maria Reva’s novel “Endling” is on the finalists’ longlist for this year’s Booker Prize and is now also in the running for the Atwood Gibson Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize. Reva is taking part in Kingston WritersFest on Sunday at the Marriott Hotel. Photo by Anya Chibis\/Supplied photo \/jpg, KI, apsmcArticle content<\/p>\n
What do you get when you combine a rare species of snail, a dedicated scientist, two feminist militants and 13 bachelors?<\/p>\n
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The answer is Maria Reva\u2019s Booker Prize-longlisted novel Endling, which she will be discussing at a Kingston WritersFest event with fellow author Ian Williams on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n
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The book follows scientist Yeva, who works out of her mobile lab in Ukraine, where she studies and breeds endangered snails (an endling is the last of a species, in this case a snail named Lefty). To fund her work, she takes part in \u201cromance tours\u201d with Westerners who are looking for a bride. It\u2019s through those tours she encounters Nastia and Solomiya, who are searching for their mother, who opposed such tours.<\/p>\n
While that may sound like the plot of a comedic kidnapping caper, that\u2019s because that\u2019s what the book was supposed to be at first.<\/p>\n
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But then Russia invaded her native Ukraine in February 2022 and everything changed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was already deep (into it) when the Russians launched their full-scale invasion, and I just did not know how to continue the book at that point,\u201d Reva explained from her home in British Columbia.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just seemed like, \u2018How do I keep writing a book when its setting is destroyed in real time?\u2019 The premise just didn\u2019t seem fitting to me anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stopped writing and took some time off to figure out what he next steps would be. Reva, who wound up travelling to Ukraine with her sister in search of their grandfather, decided to restructure the novel, inserting herself in the story and picking up the caper story after initially ending it 100 pages in.<\/p>\n
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The book\u2019s unique structure was inspired by author Salvador Plascencia\u2019s 2005 novel The People of Paper.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis book is also about a personal derailment,\u201d Reva said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo he starts with one premise, and then he undergoes a horrific heartbreak and his own real life story derails the narrative completely. And then the ex-girlfriend becomes a character in the novel, and the novel restarts again with her name cut out physically from pages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very cool book. And I thought, \u2018Wow. Well, if you can do something like that, maybe I can try something new as well.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Reva, who also works as an opera librettist, went ahead and experimented with the traditional structure of a novel, and both her editors and agent \u201cwere all on board, fortunately, with the structural play of the novel and what it turned into.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think I was actually the one who was more squeamish about it, because when I was drafting it, I had actually taken out the metafictional elements at first, because I thought, \u2018Nah, no one\u2019s gonna gonna sit with me for this. It\u2019s too much.\u2019 So I had actually taken it out, but then I realized I\u2019d missed those elements, and I put them back in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stuck to her laptop as she was writing Endling was a Post-It note with a quote from author Zsuzsi Gartner: \u201cI\u2019d rather go down in flames, quite frankly, than have a nice little book. You can quote me on that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce I realized that I would rather write a book that is trying something new, I\u2019d rather do that and fail than write a neat little story,\u201d Reva decided. \u201cThat\u2019s when I just went for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Reva said she really just wanted to finish the book and wasn\u2019t sure what the reaction would be to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was just such a difficult book to write,\u201d Reva said. \u201cThen it becomes so personal, and I wasn\u2019t sure how to write that, and it just really took me through the ringer.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Endling finally came out, to her horror she discovered that another book had been published in Germany with the same title and also revolved around endangered snails.<\/p>\n
Like Reva, author Jasmin Schreiber was inspired to write her Endling after reading an article written by Ed Yong that appeared in The Atlantic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that Jasmin and I are in touch, and that we both had this same reaction to the same article about this snail and the immense mental toll it takes to take care of an endling. It\u2019s nice to see readers reacting to the snails in our books as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Reva went on a promotional tour in the U.S. back in June and her first stop was New York City, where she appeared as a guest on Seth Meyers\u2019 late-night talk show. Next was Nashville, where she signed 1,700 copies of Endling for author and bookstore owner Ann Patchett\u2019s book club. Then it was off to Austin, Texas, and other stops for literary salons.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just loved engaging with readers that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Endling made the Booker Prize longlist in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a text message from my editor saying they had some news and they wanted to talk to me over the phone,\u201d she recalled of how she heard about the nomination. \u201cI had some inkling, but I didn\u2019t want to bear hope. But it was just wonderful news, and a huge, huge honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Her book promotional tour continues with Sunday\u2019s stop in Kingston as well as one in Toronto.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIt always takes a little while to figure out how to talk about a book, no matter which one it is. I\u2019m happy to talk about the book, though, because I\u2019ve spent so long in isolation with it,\u201d said Reva, whose work as an opera librettist \u201coffsets the isolation of fiction writing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been working on it since 2018, so it\u2019s nice to then get to engage with people about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maria Reva will join fellow author Ian Williams at Kingston WritersFest for an event titled \u201cWild Rides.\u201d It takes place Sunday at the Marriott Hotel from 1:30 to 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe does some very interesting structural play in his his novel as well,\u201d Reva said, \u201cso I\u2019m really looking forward to that event.\u201d<\/p>\n
Go to kingstonwritersfest.ca for a full schedule and advance tickets.<\/p>\n
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In addition to her Booker Prize nomination, it was announced Wednesday that Reva is one of the finalists for this year\u2019s Atwood Gibson Writers\u2019 Trust Fiction Prize, which comes with a $70,000 prize.<\/p>\n
Also nominated was Kingston\u2019s own Otoniya Juliane Okot Bitek, and her debut novel, We, the Kindling. Okot Bitek\u2019s compelling book, about Ugandan schoolgirls who survived abduction by the Lord\u2019s Resistance Army back in the 1990s, also made the longlist for this year\u2019s Giller Prize.<\/p>\n
Like Reva, Okot Bitek will be a featured guest at this weekend\u2019s Kingston WritersFest. She\u2019ll be in conversation with author\/organizer Merilyn Simonds Friday morning from 10 to 11:30 at the Limestone City Ballroom at the Kingston Marriott.<\/p>\n
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The Isabel Bader Centre\u2019s season continues Friday evening with a performance by the Tom Wilson Tehohahake Trio at 7:30 p.m. ($40, $50).<\/p>\n
Wilson, known for playing in bands Junkhouse, Lee Harvey Osmond and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, will stick around and give a free artist talk Saturday afternoon at 2 o\u2019clock (also in the performance hall) about his art installation, Fading Memories of Home.<\/p>\n
Kahnawake Mohawk by birth, Wilson\u2019s installation looks at \u201cthe systemic erasure of Indigenous culture resulting from the residential school system.\u201d<\/p>\n
The installation is currently set up in the Isabel\u2019s Art and Media Lab and will remain there until the end of the month.<\/p>\n
The Grand Theatre\u2019s season, meanwhile, hasn\u2019t started yet, but there are a couple of popular shows happening there this week.<\/p>\n
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First up is Thursday night\u2019s The Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue, a live show based on the long-running TV comedy. The actors are different, of course, but the characters remain the same.<\/p>\n
The 7:30 p.m. performance sold out, so they added a second show at 2 p.m. There were a few tickets ($45.32) left for the matinee as of press time.<\/p>\n
Another sold-out show is Rick Mercer\u2019s \u201cStand-up for Canada\u201d on Tuesday. It starts at 7:30 and features comedians Sophie Buddle, Mayce Galoni and Julie Kim.<\/p>\n
Kingston band Celtic Kitchen Party performed on the Grand Theatre stage six months ago to celebrate St. Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n
On Friday, they\u2019ll be a few blocks away, at the Spire, to celebrate \u201cHalfway to St. Patrick\u2019s Day.\u201d The band will be joined by the Kingston Capital Men\u2019s Chorus and the McGrath School of Dance during Friday\u2019s performance. It starts at 7:30 p.m. and tickets are $30.45.<\/p>\n
And the Broom Factory continues to be the go-to for touring indie bands.<\/p>\n
On Friday, Juno award winners the Dirty Nil will be performing an all-ages show at 7:30. Opening will be Heart Attack Man and Spite House. Tickets are $30.<\/p>\n
On Sunday evening at 7:30, Brooks & Bowskill will be at the Broom with their band. Tickets for that performance are $32.02 a pop.<\/p>\n
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