KB Brookins

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]

KB Brookins
Brookins at the 2024 Texas Book Festival
Born	(1995-08-28) August 28, 1995 (age 29) 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

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]