Trust AAE Speakers Bureau for Booking Top Professional Speakers. Find a Keynote Speaker Today.
Trust AAE Speakers Bureau for Booking Top Professional Speakers. Find a Keynote Speaker Today.
David France

David France

Keynote Speaker: Director of Oscar-nominated documentary "How to Survive a Plague"; Award-winning Journalist, Best-selling Author

David France Biography

Filmmaker David France is the director and co-writer of the Oscar-nominated and critically-acclaimed, How to Survive a Plague, the documentary about the early years of the AIDS epidemic. The film earned him The John Schlesinger Award (given to a first-time documentary or narrative feature filmmaker) from the Provincetown International Film Festival. He is also a best-selling author and an award-winning journalist whose work has appeared in national publications, such as New York magazine, Newsweek, The New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, and GQ. He has appeared on The Colbert Report to discuss the scientific basis that homosexuality is genetic. France is an ideal keynote speaker for colleges and universities, corporate diversity in the workplace programs, gay and lesbian conferences and events, AIDS conferences, and film and journalism schools.

How to Survive a Plague premiered as an official selection at Sundance Film Festival and made many year-end Best Films lists: Entertainment Weekly, Esquire, Time, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Slate, and the New York Times. France was hailed as the best new filmmaker of 2012 by the International Documentary Association, the New York Film Critics Circle, the Boston Film Critics, and Boston Online Film Critics, among others.

How to Survive a Plague is the story of two coalitions – ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group) – whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Faced with their own mortality an improbable group of young people, many of them HIV-positive young men, broke the mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and ’90s, France puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.

A veteran journalist, France is a contributing editor for New York magazine and was senior investigative editor at Newsweek until 2003. He is also the author of critically-acclaimed, best-selling books. Our Fathers, an investigation into the Catholic Church sexual abuse crisis, was published to critical acclaim and was adapted by Showtime for a film of the same name. The film received Emmy nominations and a Writers Guild of America Award. The Confession, which he wrote with the former Governor of New Jersey Jim McGreevey, was a New York Times best seller. In addition to Our Fathers, other films have been developed from his work: Thanks of a Grateful Nation, a controversial Showtime miniseries about the first Gulf War; the Peabody Award winner Soldier’s Girl, about a private’s murder.

A 2007 article France wrote for GQ, “Dying to Come Out: The War On Gays in Iraq”, won a GLAAD Media Award. He spent a year with the family of a boy who committed suicide and undertook a forensic approach in an article about it for the Ladies’ Home Journal. The piece, entitled “Broken Promises”, which he wrote with Diane Salvatore, won a Mental Health America ‘Excellence in Mental Health Journalism’ award in 2008.

Originally from Kalamazoo, Michigan, France now lives in New York City and the Catskills, in upstate New York.

Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on David France and other top speakers and celebrities.

David France Speaking Topics

Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal

Gay Diversity in the Workplace: What Employers and Employees Need to Know About Homosexuality

The Legacy of ACT UP: How AIDS Went from a Death Sentence to a Manageable Condition

How to Survive a Plague: Screening, Lecture, and Discussion

How do I book David France to speak at my event?

Our experienced booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure speakers like David France for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment since 2002. Click the Check Schedule button above and complete the form on this page to check availability for David France, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to discuss your upcoming event. One of our experienced agents will be happy to help you get speaking fee information and check availability for David France or any other speaker of your choice.

How much does it cost to book David France for a speaking engagement?

Speaking fees for David France, or any other speakers and celebrities, are determined based on a number of factors and may change without notice. The estimated fee for a live event is Below $10,000. For the most current speaking fee to hire David France, click the Check Schedule button above and complete the form on this page, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536 to speak directly with an experienced booking agent.

What topics does David France speak about?

David France is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Authors, Faith & Religion, Commencement, Diversity, Health, Entertainers, News & Media, Sex & Relationships, Education, Celebrity, Culture and Political.

Who is the agent for David France?

AAE Speakers Bureau has successfully secured keynote speakers like David France for clients worldwide since 2002. As a full-service speaker booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Please click the Check Schedule button above and complete the form on this page including the details of your event, or call our office at 1.800.698.2536, and one of our agents will assist you to book David France for your next private or corporate function.

What is a full-service speaker booking agency?

AAE Speakers Bureau is a full-service speaker booking agency, meaning we can completely manage the speaker’s or celebrity’s engagement with your organization from the time of booking your speaker through the event’s completion. We provide all of the services you need to host David France or any other speaker of your choice, including offer negotiation, contractual assistance, accounting and billing, and event speaker travel and logistics services. When you book a speaker with us, we manage the process of hosting a speaker for you as an extension of your team. Our goal is to give our clients peace of mind and a best-in-class service experience when booking a speaker with us.

Why is AAE Speakers Bureau different from other booking agencies?

If you’re looking for the best speaker recommendations, paired with a top-notch customer service experience, you’re in the right place. At AAE Speakers Bureau, we exclusively represent the interests of our clients - professional organizations, companies, universities, and associations. We intentionally do not represent the speakers we feature or book. That is so we can present our clients with the broadest and best performing set of speaker options in the market today, and we can make these recommendations without any obligation to promote a specific speaker over another. This is why when our agents suggest a speaker for your event, you can be assured that they are of the highest quality with a history of proven success with our other clients.


David France is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics including Authors, Faith & Religion and Commencement. The estimated speaking fee range to book David France for live events is Below $10,000. Please contact us for virtual event fees. David France can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Tom Leopold, Montel Williams and John Legend. Contact All American Speakers for ratings, reviews, videos and information on scheduling David France for an upcoming event.

David France Speaking Topics

  • Our Fathers: The Secret Life of the Catholic Church in an Age of Scandal

  • Gay Diversity in the Workplace: What Employers and Employees Need to Know About Homosexuality

  • The Legacy of ACT UP: How AIDS Went from a Death Sentence to a Manageable Condition

  • How to Survive a Plague: Screening, Lecture, and Discussion

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