Author Talk: Phill Branch With Jamila Thompson Holt

The Author Series Committee welcomes Hampton University alums Phill Branch and Jamila Holt Thompson. They will be discussing Branch's acclaimed new memoir, The Double Dutch Fuss (2026, Amistad). In this striking debut, Branch crafts an intimate and lyrical narrative that navigates the intertwined complexities of race, sexuality, and masculinity. With honesty and compassion, he invites readers on a journey marked by vulnerability, the persistence of hope amid deferred dreams, and the gradual, often tangled work of forgiveness.

At the heart of The Double Dutch Fuss is Branch’s coming-of-age as a queer Black boy growing up in Newark, wrestling with the impossibilities of rigid masculinity and the silent rules of family and community. Central to this struggle is the haunting, complicated figure of his father—a man whose influence looms large whether he is standing in the room or entirely absent. We see a father determined to mold his son into conventional images of Black manhood, imposing a heavy, critical presence that demands a hardness Phill cannot feign. The memoir unfolds in vivid vignettes: childhood games on city sidewalks charged with unspoken anxieties, the moments of solace and discovery in the company of women; double Dutch ropes spinning as both threat and promise. Readers will walk with Phill through the tender and tumultuous terrain of first crushes, heartbreak, and the pressure of presenting a carefully curated self.

The story travels from the corridors of his family home to the historic campus of Hampton University, where the intersection of Black culture and queerness produces new challenges and revelations. On campus, Phill faces the paradoxes of belonging and invisibility, finding friendship and kinship while hiding core parts of himself. The narrative then leaps to Los Angeles, where the glamour of Hollywood is juxtaposed with the isolating struggle for self-expression in a world with its own impossible standards. Through each chapter, Branch lays bare the effects of generational trauma, the search for acceptance, and the tension between outward conformity and inner truth.

Copies of Phill's book will be available for sale from 27th Letter Books.

About Phill: Phill Branch is a writer, live performance storyteller, and regional Emmy Award-winning filmmaker. He is a 2025 recipient of the Maryland State Arts Council’s Creativity Grant and received the Council's highest honor, the Individual Artist Award, for Theater (Solo Performance) in 2019. He was the GrandSLAM Champion of The Moth in D.C. in 2018 and has since traveled all over the country and overseas to tell stories with the organization. Branch was a 2014 Lambda Literary Nonfiction Emerging Voices Fellow and is the founder and Creative Director of Baltimore Story Fest, a showcase for live, personal storytelling. An alumnus of the American Film Institute, Branch has an MFA in Screenwriting. He earned his BA in Mass Media Arts at Hampton University and later returned as a professor in the English department to teach writing and develop the Film Studies program. Currently, Branch is a Resident Artist at the Howard County Center for the Arts in Maryland.

About Jamila: Jamila Thompson Holt is a technology executive and advisor with more than 25 years of experience leading enterprise transformation, technology modernization, and AI initiatives for Fortune 500 organizations. A former Principal at EY, she has spent her career advising senior executives and leading complex, large-scale transformation programs across a range of industries.

Jamila is a proud Hampton University alumna and an enthusiastic champion of her fellow Hamptonians. A lifelong lover of books and avid reader, she believes deeply in the power of storytelling to connect people, expand perspectives, and spark meaningful conversation. She has a particular appreciation for Black authors and creators and for the stories that reflect the richness, complexity, humor, and joy of our experiences.

She is thrilled to moderate this conversation with fellow Hamptonian Phill Branch and celebrate his debut novel, The Double Dutch Fuss.

This is NOT a ticketed event, which means are seats are available on a first-come, first-serve basis. Registering for Phill's talk is highly encouraged in order to receive important updates about his visit.

Questions? Email [email protected]!