Endling by Maria Reva Wins the 2026 Aspen Words Literary Prize
The annual award ceremony took place at The Whitby Hotel in New York City on Thursday, April 23.
New York, NY, April 23, 2026 – This evening, Aspen Words, a program of the Aspen Institute, announced the recipient of the ninth annual Aspen Words Literary Prize (AWLP), a $35,000 award for a work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture.
Maria Reva was named winner of the prize for Endling, a darkly comedic novel that explores survival, love and hope in times of encroaching darkness.
In a citation, the AWLP jury stated: Endling is an audacious novel about people fighting many different kinds of extinction. Part metafiction, part war chronicle, part absurdist picaresque, Maria Reva’s book begins with an ecological adventure in pre-war Ukraine involving, of all things, a critically endangered snail species. But the tale soon takes on metafictional twists and turns as real-life Russian tanks and soldiers invade the country. Endling becomes a story about women scrambling to save themselves, their families and their country—while also growing into a joyful and astonishing celebration of the novel itself, a literary form given new life and urgency by this groundbreaking, utterly unique work.
Head juror Héctor Tobar says, “as jurors, we were impressed by the ambition of Endling, by the way it wove together ecological themes with an epic story about the war in Ukraine. At the same time, it was a bold work that played with the very idea of what the literary form of a novel can be.”
Endling is Reva’s debut novel; she is also the author of the short story collection Good Citizens Need Not Fear. She was born in Ukraine and grew up in Canada and holds an MFA from the Michener Center at the University of Texas. Her fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, McSweeney’s, Best American Short Stories and elsewhere, and has won a National Magazine Award. She also works as an opera librettist.
Elisabeth Egan, writer and editor at The New York Times Book Review, facilitated a conversation with Reva and prize finalists Rabih Alameddine (The True True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother)), Sonora Jha (Intemperance) and Jess Walters (So Far Gone). The full list of 2026 finalists includes Charlotte McConaghy (Wild Dark Shore).
Reva was selected as the recipient of the prize by an independent five-member jury comprised of Kate Bowler, Michael Cader, Jamil Jan Kochai, Imbolo Mbue and Héctor Tobar.
This summer, Endling will be featured in the 2026 Community Read sponsored by Aspen Words and Pitkin County Library in Aspen, Colorado. As part of the program, free copies of the novel will be distributed throughout Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley.
A recording of the awards ceremony is available here:
Book jacket, author photo and Aspen Words Literary prize logo available here:
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/0hta8mebdleji1lqm9g0a/AAntHEcBiI5lLH9WlgVd0Lg?rlkey=brxg5t8wjy5p0t205g413wc12&st=0sh48i6f&dl=0
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For 50 years, Aspen Words has brought readers and writers together through exceptional literary programs – shaping cultural conversations, championing new voices and celebrating the power of stories. Learn more at aspenwords.org
ABOUT THE ASPEN INSTITUTE
The Aspen Institute is a global nonprofit organization whose purpose is to ignite human potential to build understanding and create new possibilities for a better world. Founded in 1949, the Institute drives change through dialogue, leadership and action to help solve society’s greatest challenges. It is headquartered in Washington, DC, and has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, as well as an international network of partners. For more information, visit www.aspeninstitute.org.
ABOUT THE ASPEN WORDS LITERARY PRIZE
The $35,000 Aspen Words Literary Prize honors an influential work of fiction that illuminates a vital contemporary issue and demonstrates the transformative power of literature on thought and culture. Open to authors of any nationality, the award is one of the largest literary prizes in the United States, and one of the few focused exclusively on socially engaged fiction. The prize’s past winners include Mohsin Hamid, Tayari Jones, Christy Lefteri, Louise Erdrich, Dawnie Walton, Jamil Jan Kochai, Isabella Hammad and Tommy Orange.
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