Born March 29, 1977; died February 26, 2017, in Greensboro, NC; married John Duberstein; had children. Education: University of North Carolina, Greensboro, M.F.A., 2004.

Writer and educator. Greensboro Review, NC, poetry editor, 2003-04; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, instructor.

WRITINGS:

• The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 2017.

Also wrote a poetry chapbook, Lucky, Lucky.

Nina Riggs was a writer and graduate of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. She also taught at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

In Riggs's 2017 book, The Bright Hour: A Memoir of Living and Dying, she discusses her terminal breast cancer and confronts the knowledge that she will soon die, leaving her husband and two young sons behind. The book was released a month after Riggs died. In it, she recalls receiving her diagnosis, tells of her family's history with cancer, and describes undergoing treatment and preparing members of her family for her eventual death.

Critics offered favorable assessments of The Bright Hour. A Kirkus Reviews contributor described it as "a luminous, heartbreaking symphony of wit, wisdom, pain, parenting, and perseverance against insurmountable odds." Carla Jean Whitley, reviewer in BookPage, commented: "Through this warmhearted memoir, Riggs writes her way to accepting her own death and the uncertainty that follows it. The Bright Hour is an introspective, well-considered tribute to life." "Despite the profound sadness of her situation, Riggs writes with humor," noted a Publishers Weekly writer. Nora Krug, a critic on the Washington Post website, remarked: "The book will make you feel joy. Riggs writes beautifully about her family, her love of literature and nature, of beach vacations and watching her son learn to ride a bike." Krug added: "The Bright Hour is a stunning work, a heart-rending meditation on life--not just how to appreciate it while you're living it, but how to embrace its end, too."

Writing on the USA Today website, Matt McCarthy called the volume "a thoughtful and heartbreaking exploration of what makes life meaningful in a person's remaining days." "Nina observes everything, and that is the grace of this crafted memoir, and yes, her admittedly-biased dear husband was right--it is a beautiful book. Its unselfconscious prose dances from short chapter to chapter," asserted Sue Robins on the Underbelly website. Reviewing the book on the Raleigh News & Observer website, Jennifer Bringle suggested: "With The Bright Hour, Riggs leaves behind a literary legacy that captures both her incredible talent and her unwavering love for her family, particularly her husband, John Duberstein, and two sons, Freddy and Benny. Her lyrical, honest prose immerses the reader in her world; you feel the fear, the despair, the joy." A contributor to the Zero Breast Cancer website stated: "Even though the book is a memoir and a work of nonfiction, the experience of reading it is akin to reading fine prose in parts. The writing is all at once lyrical, precise, clear and pithy." The same contributor continued: "A self-confessed 'google addict,' the author has not written a book about, or synthesis of, everything one might want to know about her disease or those of her mother or son. Reading this book feels more like reading a personal journal and being inside both the head and the heart of the author experiencing her 'normal life' as a mother, daughter, wife, friend and woman."

"Ultimately, this is Riggs' magic. She has produced a work about dying that evokes whimsy and joy, one that sublimely affirms that the inevitability of death carries with it its own kind of light and grace," commented Anjali Enjeti on the My AJC website. Chris Gordon, a writer on the Readings website, opined: "There are no answers in this book, but there is integrity and wit." A reviewer on the Turnaround website declared: "The Bright Hour is so incredibly universal in subject matter that the readership potential is immense; it spans ages, genders, sexualities, race--it is, essentially, a book for everyone as it deals with one of the most human themes of them all: living and dying."