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 the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
But, the Rogers Foundation, the institute's main financial backer, discontinued support for BMI in June 2025. That's endangered the future of the BMI as it's celebrating its past.
Scott Dickensheets, a cultural critic and Desert Companion editor-at-large, said Las Vegas' perceived lack of an overall literary scene was among the original hurdles BMI had to face. Early on, when BMI planned to produce a conference focused on Hunter Thompson, author of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, the author's estate laughed it off.
"(BMI) appeared set to be seriously and confidently interfaced with a larger literary world in a way that hadn't really been done before, or been done in a piecemeal way by various organizations here and there,” Dickensheets said.
That did not stop the institute from being able to pull big names once they got their feet under them. Their current Shearing Fellowship program includes KB Brookins and Isle McElroy, both of whom have received accolades for poetry and creative writing, respectively.
BMI is responsible for bringing the literary world to Las Vegas, and Dickensheets expressed his hope that current and past fellows are speaking well of the community. “After spending their time here, [fellows] go back to their home turf, and might have something interesting to say about Las Vegas that's not the normal sort of institutional down-look on us," Dickensheets says.
Through the years, BMI has had other literary milestones, including producing events that were outside box for typical literary institutions, such as the Believer Fest that took place at Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
The institute also created and hosted North America’s first City of Asylum fellowship, which gives international writers a safe place to publish their work after being forced out of their homelands for their writing. The program's current fellow, Maryam Ala Amjadi, is known for her powerful poetry works, including her book, Where Is the Mouth of That Word? — published in 2023 — and a short story, The Ice Seller of Hell, which challenges the Iranian regime's treatment of women.
“There have been plenty of writers who were at risk of serious jail time or worse, if they hadn't been offered a shelter here,” Dickensheets said.
All of this, however, could be lost without the proper funding. Dickensheets sees the loss of the fellows as the most unfortunate aspect of defunding.
“We will lose an organization that had the vision and the ambition to bring the literary world to our doorstep,” he said.
Guest: Scott Dickensheets, cultural critic and editor-at-large of Desert Companion
