Kevin Lawrence

After spending over a decade organizing and conducting tours throughout China and Taiwan, I have over the past couple of years shifted my professional touring expertise to my beloved hometown, New York City. I conduct river-to-river tours (i.e. lower Manhattan, West Village/East Village, 42nd Street) as well as specifically designed tours (i.e. educational tours focused on immigration history in Chinatown/Lower East Side).

On my NYC walking tours, I aim to tease out the social and cultural histories that give life to the streets and buildings we walk through -- people gave (and continue to give!) these beautiful but inanimate structures a soul and we have a history (especially a literary and artistic history) that continues to breath life into NYC's streets and buildings. I'm always eager to introduce audiences to beloved (or notorious) NYC figures like Walt Whitman, Jane Jacobs, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Father Francis Duffy, or the victims of the General Slocum disaster -- there are so many incredible places, people, events I thoroughly enjoy discussing with my fellow walking tourists of all ages, nationalities, and backgrounds!

I also teach as an adjunct at SUNY Purchase and have taught or spoken over the years at China Institute, NYU, Borough of Manhattan Community College, the Asia Society, the Dalton School, and the University of Chicago. I was educated at the University of Chicago (ABD, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations), various Chinese/Taiwanese universities (i.e. Nanjing University, Tsinghua University, and Taiwan National Normal University), as well as the University of Iowa (BA w/honors and MA, Comparative Literature). And for whatever it is worth, I'm an amateur birder and a very passionate dog lover (feel free to bring your leashed four-legged companion on a tour with me!)

I look forward to exploring the rich and amazing history of New York City with any and all.