This is is Black Mountain Institute Conversations, an interview series produced by Nevada Public Radio’s Desert Companion in collaboration with the Black Mountain Institute. For this series, we sit down with BMI’s Fellows to talk about the work that brought them here and how they’re spending their time in Las Vegas.
Kicking off season three is KB Brookins, one of Black Mountain Institute’s 2025-26 Shearing Fellows. KB is the author of two poetry collections — How to Identify Yourself With a Wound and Freedom House —which have won them numerous national awards, including one from the Academy of American Poets.
And just recently, they snagged 2025’s Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction for their debut memoir, Pretty, published in 2024 by Penguin Random House. The book is a literary look at KB’s life, as a trans person of color growing up in Texas.
