Howard Philips Smith (born 1956) is an American writer, novelist, and photographer, known primarily for his historical works, which focus on expanding the scope of gay history, especially in New Orleans.
He attended the University of Southern Mississippi, graduating cum laude with majors in history and French.
A Fulbright Scholarship (1977) brought him to France for study, where he attended the Université de Bourgogne, Dijon.
[7] Smith has published one work of fiction entitled The Cult of the Mask; Or, the Strange and Delectable Tale of Life Among the Sybarites,[8] which explores the subterranean gay community of New Orleans during the early 1980s.
In addition, he has also compiled the first history of the Southern Decadence festival, an annual gay and lesbian celebration at the end of August, begun in 1972 as a friendly get-together in the Treme neighborhood.