Heidi Kyser
Managing EditorDesert Companion welcomed Heidi Kyser as staff writer in January 2014. In 2018, she became senior writer and producer, working for both DC and KNPR's State of Nevada. She produced KNPR’s first podcast, the Edward R. Murrow Regional Award-winning Native Nevada, in 2020. The following year, she returned her focus full-time to Desert Companion, becoming Deputy Editor, which meant she was next in line to take over when longtime editor Andrew Kiraly left in July 2022. In 2024, CEO Favian Perez promoted Heidi to managing editor, charging her with integrating the Desert Companion and State of Nevada newsrooms.
In her 20 years as a print and on-air journalist, Heidi’s done it all, from news writing for weekly business magazines, to producing multimedia pieces for alt weeklies, winning a load of Eddie, Maggie, and Nevada Press Association awards along the way. She left academics after getting a master's degree from Harvard, so she could pursue research and writing with more immediacy.
When she’s not camping, hiking, riding her bike, or doing some other outdoor activity with her husband, Heidi is most likely to be found on a yoga mat, being spotted by her 100-pound pit bull Buster.
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On Spotlight Poetry's fifth anniversary, three members reflect on the nonprofit group's creative community work. -
Greenspun Media Group and Las Vegas Review-Journal executives weigh in on the legal impasse over their decades-old joint operating agreement. -
Black Mountain Institute just celebrated its 20th anniversary. The literary institute has been a staple in the Las Vegas community, and a vital resource for writers and creative scholars at UNLV. -
There’s no shortage of what to see, hear, and do at any time in Nevada. Here are some highlighted cultural events for the week starting April 8. -
Saretta Morgan is the Black Mountain Institute’s very first Kluge Fellow. She’s the author of two poetry chapbooks and a poetry book, titled Alt-Nature, published by Coffee House Press in early 2024 -
The City of Henderson places limits on micro-mobility operation, including a city-wide ban on electric motorcycles. -
Author and BMI Shearing Fellow Isle McElroy talks gender norms, life in Las Vegas, and protagonists who are just the right amount of complicated -
Isle McElroy is one of Black Mountain Institute’s 2025-26 Shearing Fellows. They're the author of two fictional novels — The Atmospherians and People Collide — the latter of which was named one of the best books of the year 2025 by NPR, Vulture, and The New York Times -
Editors from around the state discuss the big stories over the past year, and what they’ll be watching for in 2026. -
Longtime writer and editor Andrew Kiraly shares fondest memories and thoughts on the future of news media in his hometown.
