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EVENTS
Photo by Melisa Valdovinos at The Huntington,
May 3, 2026.
UPCOMING EVENTS
I’ll be discussing Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa as part of the Border Community Alliance’s Borderlands Literature and Film Circle, a monthly Zoom series featuring books, films, and conversations about the Mexico-U.S. borderlands.
10:00–11:30 a.m. (MST/Pacific Time)
Online via Zoom
Register Here
I wrote a play! For the first time, I’m taking my storytelling from the page to the stage. My short play will be presented as part of Borderlands Theater’s Barrio Stories 10-Year Celebration. Yep, it’s been 10 years!
The play is a site-specific theater experience, performed in the very place where the conversation at the center of the play actually happened. I’m excited to see what happens when something I wrote is brought to life by actors in front of an audience.
More details coming soon. In the meantime, check out my Making History Public page.
Tucson Convention Center
at the
Alva B. Torres Plaza
PAST EVENTS
August 16, 2026
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On August 16, 2026, I presented “1987: Reflections on a Brown and Queer Life in Los Angeles” at the ONE Gallery in West Hollywood. The evening gave me an opportunity to return to a pivotal year in my life and reflect on the people, places, and organizing that shaped it.
Missed the Talk?
You can read my conversation with the Los Angeles Blade on "Preserving Our Stories: Dr. Lydia Otero on Memory, Community, and Queer History."
Photos from the event coming soon.
June 11, 2026
I presented “If These Walls Could Speak: A Presentation Based on Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa” for Consulmex Tucson’s “Club de Lecturas” on June 11, 2026.
May 3, 2026
Presented by:
American LGBTQ+ Museum
in partnership with
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
LAURA AGUILAR IN FOCUS
Laura Aguilar, Motion #50, 1999. Gift of the Laura Aguilar Trust of 2016. The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.
I participated as a panelist in a special gathering that explored Laura Aguilar’s radical and deeply personal photography. The discussion examined how Aguilar centered the queer Latine/x community in Los Angeles and challenged dominant narratives about beauty, belonging, and power through her work at the intersection of race, sexuality, gender,
DETAILS
April 2, 2026
Love of Lectura
​Presenting on the grounds of the Historic Pima County Courthouse was one of my life highlights. I was joined by Pima County’s District 5 Supervisor, Andrés Cano and former KVOA-TV newscaster, Lupita Murillo, for a conversation about history and Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa.​​
March 5, 2026
I spoke with reporter Caroline Tracey of The Border Chronicle about my work on Storied Property: María N. Cordova’s Casa, the history of La Calle in Tucson, and the broader questions of urban renewal, displacement, and historical memory.
Watch the video interview.
March 15, 2026
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"Viva Tucson:
Tucsonense History In Focus"
I and Melani Martinez engaged in a conversation that focused on two iconic Tucson locations that have shaped the city’s cultural landscape. I discussed La Casa Cordova, a home built in the 1840s and the focus of Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa. Martinez spoke about El Molino, one of Tucson’s earliest tamal and tortilla factories featured in her work. The conversation was guided by moderator Alisha Vasquez. Thank you to everyone who showed up to support us.
January 22, 2026
I participated in a UA Confluencenter Show & Tell panel that explored the history, memory, and long-standing vision behind a Mexican American and Chicano Cultural Center in Tucson. The panel brought together Mayor Regina Romero, Raul Aguirre, Javier Durán, and myself to reflect on earlier efforts, current city discussions, and what such a center could mean for Tucson today.
My presentation looked back to the 1960s and 1970s, when activists were laying the groundwork for a cultural center and even secured a site, although the project ultimately never came to fruition. I am posting my presentation slides here to make that historical context publicly available, along with an article about the event.
December 6, 2025
Program cover for the Dec. 6, 2025 Storied Property: María Cordova’s Casa celebration at La Casa Cordova,
Tucson Museum of Art.
View a few photos from the event.
November 14, 2025
In conjunction with the exhibition Living With Injury at MOCA Tucson, I engaged in a conversation with journalist Jane Kay about how her reporting illuminated contamination and contested landscapes in Tucson during the 1980s. The discussion examined environmental justice through the lens of journalism and community history. More about “Living With Injury,” and the south side residents who have spent decades battling water contamination
&
a short video of Jane Kay
speaking that evening.
April 25, 2025
Keynote speaker at the
Western Association of
Women Historians (WAWH)
Conference
on April 25, 2025.
My talk explored why I began
writing memories and how
they offer a valuable lens for understanding history.
February 14, 2025
at
UA Library Special Collections
October 16, 2024
Tamarindo podcast conversation with Detsy Sandoval about queer activism, archival stories, and L.A. Interchanges. . Watch on YouTube.
March 18, 2024
March 10, 2024
Lucky to have participated in TWO sessions at the Tucson Festival of Books! Thank you to Nuestras Raíces and Pima County Public Library for the invitation.
"Retro Queer: LGBTQ+ Narratives From the 80s," with moderator Dominique Calza and author Manuel Muñoz.
"Voces Tucsonenses," with Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez, Henry Barajas, and moderator Selina Barajas.
January 27, 2024
October 21, 2023
October 14, 2023
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September 19, 2023
Two younger writers who are going places joined me for a Confluencenter Show & Tell. Sharing the stage with Mele Martinez and Logan Phillips was a pleasure, and the best of their work is still ahead! It was a good night at the El Casino Ballroom in South Tucson on September 19th, 2023.
July 30, 2023
My talk celebrating the culmination of my latest book, L.A. Interchanges on Sunday, July 30th, 2023 at the L.A. Central Library's Mark Taper Auditorium.
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March 31, 2023
Together On the Air
I was a panelist at the closing event for the ONE Archives Foundation exhibit. It also featured a special screening of the LGBTQ+ and Latinx documentary "Unidad: Gay & Lesbian Latinos Unidos." The program highlighted LGBTQIA+ Latinx rights and liberation in 1980s and 1990s Los Angeles. Access the online "Together on The Air" exhibit HERE.
January 27, 2023
Re-Activating Tucson's Downtown History
The University of Arizona's Confluencenter hosted a "Show & Tell" discussion that focused on efforts to re-activate Mexican/Mexican American history at the Sosa-Carrillo House (which is now the Mexican American Heritage & History Museum). I, Betty Villegas, and Mayor Regina Romero were the featured speakers. Watch it HERE. You can find my presentation at the 1:00 mark.
September 25, 2021
NPR featured the
Notitas:
Select Columns From
The Tucson Citizen
Book Release
held on
September 25, 2021
on Arizona Spotlight.
It is the first story but the entire
program is pretty interesting.
March 7, 2021
2021 Tucson Festival of Books
"Arizona authors Alberto Álvaro Ríos and Lydia R. Otero discuss their newest books, both of which explore the power of place and community along the border. How much is lost when families are dislocated altogether? Living where we do, these are things for all of us to think about."
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