Casey Gerald, National Fellow, is the author of There Will Be No Miracles Here, a memoir that stands the American Dream narrative on its head, while straddling the complex intersection of race, class, religion, and sexuality. There Will Be No Miracles Here was named a Best Book of 2018 by NPR and the New York Times, among others. The book was a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award, a longlist selection for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, and was described by novelist Marlon James as “the most urgently political, most deeply personal, and most engagingly spiritual statement of our time.”
Gerald’s essays include “The Black Art of Escape,” published in New York Magazine and selected by Longform as one of the best essays of 2019; and “Leon Bridges After Dark,” a Texas Monthly cover profile that won the 2022 National City & Regional Magazine Award. Gerald is currently writing a new book, The Great Refusal, which explores the power of individual and collective refusal to help us find our way to better lives and a better world.
Gerald’s work has been supported by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. He currently serves as chairman of Kickstarter, PBC; a Senior Fellow of Humanity in Action; a Presidential Leadership Scholars Fellow; and a former Aspen Words Writer-in-Residence.
Selected Work
- The Black Art of Escape: An article for New York Magazine to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first enslaved Africans arriving in what became the United States of America.
- Simone Biles and the Rise of the ‘Great Refusal’: An op-ed for the Guardian written in the wake of Simone Biles’s withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics.
- Casey Gerald Discusses “The Black Art of Escape”: An interview on Amanpour & Co. with Casey Gerald and Michel Martin about the 2019 New York Magazine article.
- An Evening with Casey Gerald and Van Jones: A conversation for the Kentucky Author Forum with Casey Gerald and Van Jones about There Will Be No Miracles Here and the American dream.
- How Going Home Helped Inspire Leon Bridges’s New Album—and Saved His Life: A cover story for TexasMonthly that reveals a never-before-shown side of the Grammy-winning singer Leon Bridges, and the crises (and friends) that led to his rebirth.