Mariah Rigg is a Samoan-Haole who was born and raised on the island of O‘ahu. She is the author of the debut short story collection EXTINCTION CAPITAL OF THE WORLD (Ecco/HarperCollins, 2025), which has received praise from Vulture, Oprah Daily, Chicago Review of Books, Literary Hub, Book Riot, Debutiful, Autostraddle, Ms. Magazine, and more. Her creative nonfiction chapbook, ALL HAT, NO CATTLE was published by Bull City Press in 2023.

Mariah is the recipient of fellowships and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, MASS MoCA, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Mount, Oregon Literary Arts, Carolyn Moore Writers’ House, and Lambda Literary. Her work has been featured in The Sewanee Review, Oxford American, Electric Lit, The Common, Joyland, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Currently, she teaches creative writing as a visiting fellow at Mount Holyoke College.

Mariah loves flowers, french fries, and swimming holes. She’s always down for a sunset bike ride and a late night (or midday) game of pool. When she isn’t reading, writing, or hiking, she makes lots of soups and cakes, screams to pop princesses like Kim Petras, and watches farrrrr too much reality TV.