Tag: Goucher College

Episode 342: Remembering Philip Gerard

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By Brendan O’Meara

Man, we lost another wonderful, brilliant, generous member of the writing community, CNFers. Philip Gerard passed away earlier this week.

A few weeks ago we lost Matt Tullis, a wonderful writer of narrative nonfiction, and a teacher of longform journalism. When he was working on what would become his memoir Running with Ghosts, he attended an MFA program out of Wilmington, NC, spearheaded by Philip Gerard.

Phil was someone who had always been one of those dudes I could call on if I had a question on writing, dating all the way back to 2008 when I wrapped up my MFA, right through 2017 and 2019 when he was one of the best guests on this very podcast. I never had him as a mentor in grad school, but he was always someone whose brain I liked picking. He never discounted you on wisdom and encouragement. 

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Episode 295: Wil Haygood Talks ‘Colorization,’ Black Films in a White World, and Meeting James Baldwin

PHOTO: Julia Ewan

Sponsor love: West Virginia Wesleyan College’s MFA in Creative Writing

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By Brendan O’Meara

Wil Haygood is here. I’m going to repeat that: Wil Haygood is here.

He’s here to talk about his latest book, Colorization: 100 Years of Black Films in a White World (Knopf, 2021).

This conversation I did as part of Goucher College’s MFA in Creative Nonfiction. It was a live event, rebroadcast with my slick editing skills for you. 

Wil has been a long-time reporter for The Washington Post, where his piece on Eugene Allen, the butler for several presidents in the White House became a book and was the basis for Lee Daniels The Butler, starring Forrest Whittaker and Oprah Winfrey. You might have heard of them.

Wil has also written books on Sugar Ray Robinson and Thurgood Marshall and Sammy Davis Jr. His talent, ability, and rigor might only be surpassed by his generosity. How generous? He blurbed my book Six Weeks in Saratoga way back in early 2011 before the book came out that summer. 

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