Kirby Michael Wright is an American writer best known for his 2005 coming-of-age island novel Punahou Blues and the epic novel Moloka'i Nui Ahina, which is based on the life and times of Wright's paniolo grandmother. Both novels deal with the racial tensions between haoles (whites) and the indigenous Hawaiians, and illustrate the challenge for characters who, as the product of mixed-race marriages, must try to bridge the two cultures and overcome prejudice from both camps. Wright has ventured into the genre of creative nonfiction in 2019 with The Queen of Moloka'i, which explores the teenage years of his part-Hawaiian grandmother and documents the Wright family saga in the islands.