I love talking about New Orleans to anyone, anywhere! Whether it’s a conference session or a college classroom, I am happy to address your group. In the past, I’ve spoken on a wide variety of topics: literary history, haunted New Orleans, Carnival and Mardi Gras, Voodoo, legal history, cemeteries, the mafia, Yellow Fever, architecture, vice and crime, musical heritage, queer history, the culinary scene, and much, much more.
As an ambassador of New Orleans, and the French Quarter in particular, it would be my honor to share my city with your group. Listed below are some of my previous speaking engagements. As you scan the list, you will notice a wide range of groups and types of events: panel discussions, non-profit fundraisers, keynote addresses, public libraries, conference sessions, workshops, college classrooms, and more. Whatever event you’re planning, let me help you make it one to remember!
To book me for your event, email me at frankearlperez@gmail.com or call 504-941-1633.
Presentations
“Bulbancha was Queer.” Rivers Institute Confluence, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“A Salute to the Corner Pocket.” The Historic New Orleans Collection, Williams Research Center. New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“Collecting Within the LGBTQ+ Community.” Panel Discussion, South Eastern Museums Conference. Baton Rouge, LA, 2024.
“Mortal Remains: The Victims of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire.” Save Our Cemeteries Lecture Series. New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“The French Quarter: Queer Legacies.” New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“Queer Literary History of New Orleans.” B-K House Lecture Series, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“The Rainbow Fleur de Lis: A History of Queer New Orleans.” National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“Y’all Means All: Doing Queer Southern History Now.” Panel Discussion, Organization of American Historians Conference, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“Incorporating New Orleans’ Literary Heritage into French Quarter Tours: A Journey Through Genre and History.” Friends of the Cabildo Monthly Tour Guide Speaker Series, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“History in the Streets.” Panel Discussion, Louisiana Historical Association, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“Considering Legacy.” Panel Discussion, GenFest, New Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA, 2024.
“The History of Civil Rights in New Orleans.” National LGBTQ Task Force Creating Change Conference, New Orleans, LA 2024.
“Gay Carnival in New Orleans.” Friends of the Cabildo Lecture Series, New Orleans, LA 2024.
“Stewart Butler and Queer History.” Louisiana Book Festival, Baton Rouge, LA 2023.
“Up Stairs: A Seminal Moment in New Orleans History.” Tour Guide Association of Greater New Orleans, New Orleans, LA, 2023.
“The Up Stairs Lounge at 50.” Baton Rouge Pride, Baton Rouge, LA, 2023.
“The Legacy of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire.” U.S. District Court staff, New Orleans, LA 2023.
“Gay Cities: Finding a Spiritual Home.” Panel Discussion. Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, New Orleans, LA 2023.
“Research Methodology & Storytelling.” Friends of the Cabildo, New Orleans, LA 2023.
“The State of LGBT+ Scholarship on Louisiana Queer History.” Panel Discussion, Louisiana Historical Association, Alexandria, LA 2023.
“Bulbancha and Mobilian Jargon: A Linguistic Exploration.” Friends of the Cabildo, New Orleans, LA 2023.
“Political Animal: The Life and Times of Stewart Butler.” Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans, LA 2023. Watch this presentation here.
“Katrina Seventeen Years Later.” Entrepreneurs of Ohio, New Orleans, LA 2023.
“What the LGBT+ Archives Project Can Do For You.” Louisiana Archives and Manuscripts Association Conference, New Orleans, LA 2022.
“Wrestling with Incomplete Archives.” Invisible Histories Project Conference, Dallas, TX 2022.
“The LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana: A Community Success Story.” Invisible Histories Project Conference, Dallas, TX 2022.
“The Problematic Tooles and A Confederacy of Dunces.” Panel Discussion. Baldwin & Co., New Orleans, LA 2022.
“The Origins of Southern Decadence.” Panel Discussion, The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA 2022.
“Queering the Collection.” University of Louisiana at Lafayette Library Lecture Series, Lafayette, LA 2022.
“An Insider’s Guide to New Orleans.” Marriott Sales Conference, New Orleans, LA 2022.
“Queer History in Focus: Community Response to Tragedy and Discrimination.” Panel Discussion, Saints and Sinners Literary Festival, New Orleans, LA 2022.
“Such a Wicked City: New Orleans and the Idea of Decadence.” Panel Discussion, Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival, New Orleans, LA 2022.
“The Children of Yuga: The Birth and Early Years of Gay Carnival.” The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA 2022. Watch this presentation here.
“Making Mardi Gras.” Panel Discussion, The Historic New Orleans Collection, New Orleans, LA 2022
“Reclaiming the Quarter’s Rainbow History.” Gallier Gatherings, Hermann-Grima + Gallier Historic Houses, New Orleans, 2021 Watch this presentation here
“Celebration and Change in LGBT+ New Orleans.” Panel Discussion, Louisiana State Museum, New Orleans, LA 2020
“History of Pride in New Orleans.” Panel Discussion, LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana, New Orleans, LA 2020
“Up Stairs Lounge Commemoration Ceremony.” New Orleans, LA 2020.
“The Rainbow Fleur de Lis.” National Park Service, New Orleans, LA 2019
“Gay Carnival.” American Alliance of Museums Conference, New Orleans, LA 2019
“Gay Carnival.” Panel Discussion. “The Sons of Tennessee Williams” screening, Prytania Theatre, New Orleans, LA 2019
“Writing the Queer Quarter.” Patio Planters of the Vieux Carre, New Orleans, LA 2019
“Recovering Hidden History.” Mew Orleans Public Library, New Orleans, LA 2019
“Queer History of the French Quarter.” Tricentennial Lecture Series, VCPORA / Beauregard-Keyes House, New Orleans, LA 2018
“Violence and Celebration in LGBTQ New Orleans.” Panel Discussion. Literary Festival, New Orleans, LA 2018
“Queer New Orleans.” Panel Discussion. Louisiana Book Festival. Baton Rouge, LA 2018
“The Double Dealer and The Outsider.” Tour Guide Association of Greater New Orleans. New Orleans, LA 2017
“History of AIDS in New Orleans.” Panel Discussion. New Orleans, LA, 2017
“The Hidden History of Gay New Orleans.” Tour Guide Association of Greater New Orleans. New Orleans, LA 2017
“Police Hostility and the LGBT+ Community in New Orleans.” U.S. Attorney’s Office, New Orleans, LA 2016
“A Brief History of Gay New Orleans.” Society of American Archivists Conference. New Orleans, LA 2013
“Up Stairs Lounge Commemoration Ceremony.” New Orleans, LA 2013
“Critical Thinking in the Composition Classroom.” Conference of College Teachers of English College Station, TX 2007
“A Rhetorical Analysis of the Gay Marriage Debate.” Conference of College Teachers of English Corpus Christie, TX 2005
“2004: Writing the Year.” Franklin Publishing Co. / Concordia University Writer’s Conference Arlington, TX 2004
“Rhetoric in Astrophil and Stella: Ciceronian or Ramist?” Conference of College Teachers of English San Antonio 2003
“Re-Reading Langston Hughes: Rhetorical Pedagogy in ‘Theme for English B’.” Conference of College Composition and Communication Atlanta 2000
“Modernism and the Mythic Method in ‘The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock’.” Conference of College Teachers of English Denton, TX 1999
“Invention in Romantic Rhetorics: A Look at Alexander Gerard and Peter Elbow.” Louisiana Conference of College Composition Lafayette, LA 1997
“Aristotelian Invention in Classical Rhetoric and its Implications for the Composition Classroom.” Acadiana Writing Project Workshop Series Lafayette, LA 1997
“Huey Long and All the King’s Men.” A multi-media lecture to commemorate the 50th Anniversary of the Lafayette Public Library. 1996