KB Brookins

KB Brookins
Brookins at the 2024 Texas Book Festival
Born	(1995-08-28) August 28, 1995 (age 30) Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Writer
Education	Texas Christian University (BA) University of Texas at Austin (MFA)
Genres	Poetry, Creative Nonfiction
Notable works	Pretty: A Memoir, Freedom House, How To Identify Yourself With a Wound
Notable awards	National Endowment of the Arts Fellowship, Stonewall Book Award, Lambda Literary Award
Website
www.earthtokb.com

KB Brookins (born August 28, 1995) is a Black American author. Brookins is a 2023 Creative Writing fellow with the National Endowment for the Arts and the author of three books: How To Identify Yourself with a Wound, Freedom House, and Pretty: A Memoir. ^{[1] [2]}

Early life and Career

Brookins was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas. ^[3] They attended Texas Christian University and graduated in 2017. ^[4] Their work is often described as hopeful, unique, and candid. ^{[5] [6] [7]}

Freedom House explores themes of race, transgender identity, and gentrification among others. ^{[8] [9] [10]} Vogue called their writing style in the book "urgent and timely while still holding space for the possibility of a life lived on one’s own terms." ^[11] Freedom House won the 2024 Stonewall Book Award Barbara Gittings Literature Award and an award with the Texas Institute of Letters. ^{[12] [13]} It was named a best book of 2023 by Autostraddle, Texas Observer, Ms., and Chicago Review of Books. ^{[14] [15] [16]}

In 2024, Brookins published their debut memoir called Pretty. ^{[17] [18]} It has gotten favorable reviews in Kirkus Reviews and GLAAD among other venues. ^{[19] [20] [21]} Pretty is a finalist for the 2025 Lambda Literary Award in Transgender Nonfiction. ^[22]

Personal life

Brookins identifies as non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. ^[23]

Works

Books

• Pretty. Alfred A. Knopf. 2024. ISBN   9780593537145. ^[24]
• Freedom House. Deep Vellum. 2023. ISBN   9781646052639. ^[25]
• How To Identify Yourself With a Wound. Kallisto Gaia Press. 2022. ISBN   9781952224133. ^[26]

Poems

• "My therapist called it climate despair". Poetry Magazine . March 2023. ^[27]
• "Notes After Watching the Inauguration". Poetry Magazine . March 2023. ^[27]
• "Snake Plant". Poetry Magazine . March 2023. ^[27]
• "T Shot #9: Ode to my Sharps Container". Poetry Magazine . March 2023. ^[27]
• “T Shot #5: Ode to My Sharps Container” (republished). Metro Weekly. 2023
• "Remix #2". Kenyon Review. 2023 ^[28]
• "What's On Your Mind, KB?". Cincinnati Review. 2023 ^[29]
• "Love Machine". Split This Rock. 2023 ^[30]
• “Good Grief”. Academy of American Poets (Poem-A-Day). 2022 ^[31]
• "Poem Against Black ____ Magic". Poetry Northwest. 2022 ^[32]
• “KB’s Origin Story”, “Yebba’s Heartbreak”. Electric Literature. 2022 ^[33]
• “& Somehow, Men Are Nicer to me Now”. American Poetry Review. 2022 ^[34]

Essays

• “KB Brookins on T Shot #4”. Poetry Society of America. 2023 ^[35]
• "Freedom House: A Sonic Bibliography". Oxford American. 2023 ^[36]
• "Trans Texans Are Being Surveilled, This Is Everyone’s Issue". Autostraddle. 2022 ^[37]
• "How Kendrick Lamar Stumbles Toward Queer And Trans Allyship On 'Auntie Diaries'". Okayplayer. 2022 ^[38]
• "This Is What It's Like Going To The Gynecologist When You're Black, Trans And In Texas". HuffPost. 2022 ^[39]
• "Why Coming Out to My Family Isn't on My Holiday To-Do List". Teen Vogue. 2021 ^[40]

Zines

• Nothing Was the Cause of Their Deaths. Winter Storm Project. 2023. ISBN   9798218222475.
• A New Relationship to Pain. LibroMobile. 2021. OCLC   1296956995. ^[41]
• In Another Life. 2019. ^[42]

Art Exhibits

• Freedom House: An Exhibition. 2024 ^[43]

In Anthology

• Emerge: Lambda Literary 2018 Fellows anthology. Lambda Literary Foundation. 2019. ISBN   9781799248040.

Edited

• Winter Storm Project: Austin, Texas Artists on Winter Storm Uri. Winter Storm Project. 13 February 2022. ISBN   9780578361123.

Awards and fellowships

• 2018 Lambda Literary Foundation Writer’s Retreat for Emerging LGBTQ Voices Fellow (Poetry) ^[44]
• 2021 PEN America Emerging Voices Fellow (Poetry) ^[45]
• 2022 Academy of American Poets Treehouse Climate Action Prize Recipient ^{[46] [47]}
• 2022 Writer's League of Texas Discovery Prizer Winner - Poetry
• 2023 National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow ^[48]
• 2023 Stonewall Book Award Honor Book ^[49]
• 2023 Texas Institute of Letters Award ^[12]
• 2024 Stonewall Book Award Barbara Gittings Literature Award for Poetry ^[50]
• 2025 Saints & Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Festival Dorothy Allison / Felice Picano Emerging Writer Award ^[51]
• 2025 Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award in Creative Non-Fiction ^[52]
• 2025 ACLU of Texas Artist-in-Residence ^[53]
• 2025 Ragdale Alice Judson Hayes Social Justice Fellow (Nonfiction) ^[54]
• 2025 Shearing Fellowship at the Black Mountain Institute ^[55]
• 2025 Finalist for Lambda Literary Award for Transgender Nonfiction ^[22]

References

1.  This article incorporates public domain material from Meet the Creative Writing Fellows: KB Brookins. National Endowment for the Arts.
2. St. Jude, Jenn (2022). "Validated, Represented, and Connected to a Larger Narrative: An Interview with KB". Chicago Review of Books .
3. "KB (Brookins)". id.loc.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
4. Wilson, Jeff (2023-05-10). "KB Brookins: How It Started ... How It's Going". TCU Magazine. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
5. "KB Brookins' 'Pretty: A Memoir'". Bay Area Reporter. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
6. Casey (2023-12-12). "65 of the Best Queer Books of 2023". Autostraddle. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
7. Journal, Fahmidan (2024-08-14). "Book Review: Pretty-By KB Brookins". Fahmidan’s Substack. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
8. Hill, Chaney (2023-04-12). ""Freedom House" Imagines a House for All". Southern Review of Books. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
9. "Review: KB Brookins's FREEDOM HOUSE as Manifesto". Honey Literary. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
10. Smith, Gabriella (2023-04-21). "Overwhelming in the Best Way - Deep South Magazine". Deep South Magazine. Archived from the original on 2024-06-22. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
11. "The Best New Poetry Collections to Read (or Preorder) Now". Vogue. 2023-04-04. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
12. "Home". texasinstituteofletters.org. 2022-05-01. Retrieved 2024-03-18.
13. Wilson, Jackie (2024-01-29). "UPK's 'Gay Poems for Red States' named 2024 Stonewall Book Award Honor Book". UKNow. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
14. "61 Notable Debuts by Trans, Nonbinary, and Gender Non-conforming Authors". Chicago Review of Books. 2023-12-22. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
15. Olsen, Lise (2023-12-13). "The Texas Observer's 2023 Must-Read Lone Star Books". The Texas Observer. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
16. Strand, Karla J. (2023-04-20). "Reads for the Rest of Us: The Best Poetry of the Last Year". Ms. Magazine. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
17. "Review: Pretty: A Memoir by KB Brookins". The Florida Review. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
18. "[Review] Pretty by KB Brookins | Erica Talks Books". www.ericatalksbooks.com. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
19. Specter, Emma (2024-05-23). "In Their New Memoir 'Pretty', KB Brookins Blends Poetry and Prose to Paint a Vivid Portrait of Black Southern Transmasculinity". Vogue. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
20. ortiz, mónica teresa (2024-05-28). "Book review of Pretty by KB Brookins". BookPage | Discover your next great book!. Retrieved 2024-05-28.
21. Associate, Kayla Thompson, Communities of Color (2024-06-07). "KB Brookins' 'Pretty: A Memoir' and Manifesto for the Transformative Power of Black, Queer, and Trans Stories | GLAAD" . Retrieved 2025-08-19.
22. Lewis, L. D. (2025-07-30). "Announcing the Finalists for the 37th Annual Lambda Literary Awards". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2025-07-31.
23. "Pretty: A Memoir by Kb Brookins". www.publishersweekly.com. Retrieved 2025-08-19.
24. "Pretty by KB Brookins: 9780593537145". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
25. "Freedom House". Deep Vellum. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
26. "How to Identify Yourself with a Wound". Kallisto Gaia Press. Retrieved 2024-04-11.
27. "March 2023". Poetry Magazine . Poetry Foundation. March 2023.
28. "KB Brookins | Kenyon Review Author". The Kenyon Review. Retrieved 2023-10-02.
29. "miCRo: "What's on your mind, KB?" by KB Brookins - The Cincinnati Review". 2023-05-03. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
30. "Love Machine | Poetry Database | Split This Rock". www.splitthisrock.org. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
31. Poets, Academy of American. "Good Grief by KB Brookins - Poems | Academy of American Poets". Poets.org. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
32. "We Are Not Untouchable". 2022-09-10. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
33. Juarez, Alex (2022-05-02). "My Gender Won't Fit in the Family Car". Electric Literature. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
34. "American Poetry Review - KB Brookins - "& Somehow, Men Are Nicer to Me Now"". American Poetry Review. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
35. "KB Brookins on "T Shot #4"". Poetry Society of America. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
36. "Freedom House: A Sonic Bibliography". Oxford American. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
37. Brookins, K. B. (2022-12-21). "Trans Texans Are Being Surveilled, This Is Everyone's Issue". Autostraddle. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
38. "How Kendrick Lamar Stumbles Toward Queer And Trans Allyship On "Auntie Diaries" - Okayplayer". www.okayplayer.com. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
39. "This Is What It's Like Going To The Gynecologist When You're Black, Trans And In Texas". HuffPost. 2022-02-03. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
40. "Why I Won't Be Coming Out to My Family During the Holidays". Teen Vogue. 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
41. "A new relationship to pain : poems". www.worldcat.org. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
42. "zines". KB Brookins. Retrieved 2023-07-27.
43. Anderson, Carys. "The Off Beat: KB Brookins' Poetry Book-Turned-Art Exhibit". www.austinchronicle.com. Retrieved 2024-04-14.
44. "Nia KB". Lambda Literary. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
45. "2021 Emerging Voices Fellows and Mentors". PEN America .
46. "Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize | Academy of American Poets". Academy of American Poets . 2022.
47. "The Academy of American Poets Announces 2022 Winners of the Treehouse Climate Action Poem Prize". poets.org. Retrieved 2023-05-17.
48. "Meet the Creative Writing Fellows: KB Brookins".
49. admin (2009-09-09). "Stonewall Book Awards List". Round Tables. Retrieved 2023-07-20.
50. RAGARCIA (2024-02-05). ""Freedom House" wins 2024 Stonewall Barbara Gittings Literature Award". News and Press Center. Retrieved 2024-02-14.
51. "Saints & Sinners Festival Renames Award to Honor Dorothy Allison, Felice Picano". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
52. Anderson, Marc (2025-01-02). "GLCA Announces Winner of 2025 New Writers Award". Great Lakes Colleges Association. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
53. Aton, Francesca (2025-05-01). "The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas Names 2025–26 Artists-in-Residence". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2025-05-01.
54. "KB Brookins". Ragdale. Retrieved 2025-08-01.
55. "KB Brookins - Black Mountain Institute". 2025-05-16. Retrieved 2025-07-31.

External links

• Official website