Anne de Marcken has been awarded the 2024 Ursula K. Le Guin Prize for Fiction for her novel It Lasts Forever and Then It’s Over (New Directions), per lithub.com.
Chosen from a shortlist of 10, the selection was made by a prestigious panel of judges, including Margaret Atwood, Omar El Akkad, Megan Giddings, Ken Liu and Carmen Maria Machado.
The panel described Marcken’s novel as a “quietly detonative” work, blending elements of a zombie story with a profound exploration of memory, loss, and the human condition. The protagonist’s journey through a crumbling world, carrying a talking dead crow, captures the essence of grief, regret and the inevitability of decline.
The novel was praised for its haunting tone, poignancy, and moments of unexpected humour.
