Extinction Capital of the World
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WINNER OF THE 2026 ASIAN/PACIFIC AMERICAN AWARD FOR LITERATURE
WINNNER OF THE 2026 BETTY BERZON EMERGING WRITER AWARD
GOLD WINNER OF THE 2026 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARDS - FICTION
Named a Best Book of 2025 by: Esquire * Electric Literature * Debutiful
A Recommended Read from: Vulture * Oprah Daily * Our Culture * LitHub * Debutiful * LGBTQ Reads * Alta Journal * Autostraddle * BookRiot
Magnetic, haunting, and tender, Extinction Capital of the World is a stunning portrait of Hawai’i—and a powerful meditation on family, queer love, and community amid imperialism and environmental collapse.
In ten vibrant, affecting stories, Mariah Rigg immerses readers in contemporary Hawai’i. By turns heartbreaking and hopeful, these stories of love, longing, and grief are fierce dispatches from a state haunted by the specter of colonization, a precious biome under constant threat.
An older man grapples with the American-weapons research conducted on a neighboring island that reverberates through his entire life. A pregnant woman seeks belonging while poaching flowers in the rainforest with her partner’s mother. Two teenage girls find love during a summer spent on Midway Atoll. A young woman returns home to O’ahu following a breakup and reconnects with her estranged father and the island itself.
Linked by both place and character, Rigg’s stories illuminate the exotification and commodification of Hawai’i in the American mythos. Extinction Capital of the World is an environmental love letter to the Hawaiian Islands and an indelible portrayal of the people who inhabit them—marking the arrival of an exciting new voice in contemporary fiction.
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Mariah Rigg is a Samoan-Haole settler who was born and raised on the island of O‘ahu. Her work has been featured in Oxford American, The Sewanee Review, Joyland, and elsewhere. In 2024, she was awarded a fellowship in creative writing from the National Endowment for the Arts. She holds an MFA from the University of Oregon and is currently a PhD candidate at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.