{"id":258973,"date":"2023-12-15T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?p=258973"},"modified":"2023-12-13T16:04:37","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T21:04:37","slug":"exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover for\u00a0the <\/em>memoir Pretty by KB Brookins,\u00a0which will be published by Alfred A. Knopf on May 28, 2024. Preorder the book\u00a0here<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

By a prize-winning, young Black trans writer of outsized talent, a fierce and disciplined memoir about queerness, masculinity, and race.

Even as it shines light on the beauty and toxicity of Black masculinity from a transgender perspective\u2014the tropes, the presumptions\u2014Pretty<\/a> <\/em>is as much a powerful and tender love letter as it is a call for change.  

\u201cI should be able to define myself, but I am not. Not by any governmental or cultural body,\u201d KB Brookins writes. \u201cEvery day, I negotiate the space between who I am, how I\u2019m perceived, and what I need to unlearn. People have assumed things about me, and I can\u2019t change that. Every day, I am assumed to be a Black American man, though my ID says \u2018female,\u2019 and my heart says neither of the sort. What does it mean\u2014to be a girl-turned-man when you\u2019re something else entirely?\u201d 

Informed by Brookins\u2019s personal experiences growing up in Texas, those of other Black transgender masculine people, Black queer studies, and cultural criticism, Pretty <\/em>is concerned with the marginalization suffered by a unique American constituency\u2014whose condition is a world apart from that of cisgender, non-Black, and non-masculine people. Here is a memoir (a bildungsroman of sorts) about coming to terms with instantly and always being perceived as \u201cother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Here is the cover, designed by Chip Kidd, artwork by Anita Kunz. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Author KB Brookins:<\/strong> “This book is unlike any other project I’ve attempted, so I wanted to make a necessary departure from my first two books’ covers (How To Identify Yourself With a Wound<\/a><\/em> and Freedom House<\/a><\/em>). When developing cover ideas, I thought to myself ‘how has birthing this book felt?’, and I kept thinking about breath, stillness, and balance\u2014all things required to get to emotional clarity and own\/reflect on the past. I also thought about how nerve-wracking it is to not hide behind a ‘character’ that isn’t me, and how sweaty I get when out in the Texas sun. Yellow as a background kept calling to me. I also thought about this book being my most vulnerable thing, and thought there was nothing more vulnerable to me than having a version of myself\u2014with my skin showing\u2014on the cover. So I took some pictures and sent those (along with summations of three ideas) to Chip and Anita, who knocked it out of the park. After some necessary input from Erroll McDonald (my editor), the idea that stuck is the one that felt most true and in alignment with the feeling that I hope the book evokes in readers\u2014calm that has come from a Black, trans, beautifully chaotic lifetime of searching for peace. I feel so honored to have this brave book coming into the world with Knopf, and hope that readers feel as moved by the book’s design and words as I do.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designer Chip Kidd: <\/strong>\u201cThe author basically art-directed this cover, which really helped. Once I read KB\u2019s brief on what they were looking for, Anita instantly came to mind. Her lovely sensibility and skill was perfect for this astonishing, brave book. I just stayed out of her way and let her do the magic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Painter Anita Kunz:<\/strong> \u201cI love painting portraits of extraordinary people and I was thrilled when Chip Kidd gave me this assignment. I read nothing but great reviews about KB Brookins and really feel that they are doing meaningful and important work. My main aim was to paint them in a beautiful and sensitive way, but I also wanted to add a tiny element of magic, so I added the tattoo bird which appears to come to life.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Electric Literature is pleased to reveal the cover for\u00a0the memoir Pretty by KB Brookins,\u00a0which will be published by Alfred A. Knopf on May 28, 2024. Preorder the book\u00a0here. By a prize-winning, young Black trans writer of outsized talent, a fierce and disciplined memoir about queerness, masculinity, and race. Even as it shines light on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":259022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6177,243],"tags":[5652,6039,240,5681],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins - Electric Literature<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The author and the artist talk about creating a design that embodies a Black trans writer's beautifully\u00a0chaotic search for peace\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins - Electric Literature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The author and the artist talk about creating a design that embodies a Black trans writer's beautifully\u00a0chaotic search for peace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Electric Literature\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-15T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-13T21:04:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/9780593537145-3-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2265\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1195\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jo Lou\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jo Lou\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jo Lou\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/person\/364474585183c8fc0d75adfd52c80486\"},\"headline\":\"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-15T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-13T21:04:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/\"},\"wordCount\":660,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"black-author\",\"design\",\"memoir\",\"trans-author\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Cover Reveals\",\"news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/\",\"name\":\"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins - Electric Literature\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-15T12:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-13T21:04:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"The author and the artist talk about creating a design that embodies a Black trans writer's beautifully\u00a0chaotic search for peace\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/\",\"name\":\"Electric Literature\",\"description\":\"Reading Into Everything.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Electric Literature\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/logo@2x.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/logo@2x.png\",\"width\":434,\"height\":56,\"caption\":\"Electric Literature\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/person\/364474585183c8fc0d75adfd52c80486\",\"name\":\"Jo Lou\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92088957a4a938cdf86b08417f9899d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92088957a4a938cdf86b08417f9899d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jo Lou\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/author\/jo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins - Electric Literature","description":"The author and the artist talk about creating a design that embodies a Black trans writer's beautifully\u00a0chaotic search for peace","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins - Electric Literature","og_description":"The author and the artist talk about creating a design that embodies a Black trans writer's beautifully\u00a0chaotic search for peace","og_url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/","og_site_name":"Electric Literature","article_published_time":"2023-12-15T12:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-12-13T21:04:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2265,"height":1195,"url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/9780593537145-3-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jo Lou","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jo Lou","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/"},"author":{"name":"Jo Lou","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/person\/364474585183c8fc0d75adfd52c80486"},"headline":"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins","datePublished":"2023-12-15T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-13T21:04:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/"},"wordCount":660,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["black-author","design","memoir","trans-author"],"articleSection":["Cover Reveals","news"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/","url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/","name":"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins - Electric Literature","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-15T12:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2023-12-13T21:04:37+00:00","description":"The author and the artist talk about creating a design that embodies a Black trans writer's beautifully\u00a0chaotic search for peace","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/exclusive-cover-reveal-of-pretty-by-kb-brookins\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Exclusive Cover Reveal of \u201cPretty\u201d by KB Brookins"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/","name":"Electric Literature","description":"Reading Into Everything.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#organization","name":"Electric Literature","url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/logo@2x.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/logo@2x.png","width":434,"height":56,"caption":"Electric Literature"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/person\/364474585183c8fc0d75adfd52c80486","name":"Jo Lou","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92088957a4a938cdf86b08417f9899d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/92088957a4a938cdf86b08417f9899d1?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jo Lou"},"url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/author\/jo\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/9780593537145-3-1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4FNqI-15mZ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258973"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258973"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":259119,"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258973\/revisions\/259119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/electricliterature.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}