Marissa Spear is a disabled writer and historian based in Northwest Arkansas. She received her BA in Health Equity Studies with a minor in Public Health from Goucher College and a Certificate in Professional Achievement in Narrative Medicine from Columbia University. She is currently pursuing her Master of Library and Information Studies from the University of Oklahoma.

She was a 2021 Rogue Mentee with Marissa Eller, author of Joined at the Joints. Her YA fiction work was longlisted for The Voyage Journal’s 2021 Book-Pitch Contest and was a 2024 finalist for LitUp by Reese's Book Club. In 2023, she was named to Northwest Arkansas Business Journal’s Fast 15 Class. Her essay on disability in children’s historical literature appeared in An American Girl Anthology: Finding Ourselves in the Pleasant Company Universe (University Press of Mississippi, 2025). Her historical research on the Baltimore branch of the Black Panther Party has appeared or is forthcoming in the Journal of Women’s History, Contingent Magazine, Nursing Clio, and All of Us. 

In her day job, she serves as a program evaluator for community health programs, and in her spare time, she enjoys reading fanfiction and analyzing the quality of public restrooms.

She is represented by Daniele Hunter at McIntosh & Otis.