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.
A Cappella Books is pleased to welcome author Mariah Rigg for a special afternoon talk and book signing to celebrate the release of her short story collection, “Extinction Capital of the World.” She will appear in conversation with Josie Tolin, Fiction Fellow at Emory University.
This event is free and open to the public; copies of the book will be available for purchase.
About the Book
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.
About the Author
Mariah Rigg is a Samoan-Haole who was born and raised on the island of O’ahu. She is the author of the short story collection “Extinction Capital of the World” (Ecco, 2025). Her work has been supported by 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, along with being published by The Sewanee Review, Oxford American, Electric Lit, The Common, Joyland, and elsewhere. Mariah holds an MFA from the University of Oregon and a PhD from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
About the Conversation Partner
Originally from Northwest Indiana, Josie Tolin is the 2024-2026 Fiction Fellow at Emory University. Her work has received support from the Sewanee Writers Conference Barry Hannah Scholarship, Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and other organizations. In 2023 she completed her MFA in fiction at the University of Tennessee. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net; her short stories appear or are forthcoming in Oxford American, The Rumpus, Copper Nickel, Salamander, and elsewhere.
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